


Coffee and Tea

by KarasunoCaptain



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-08
Updated: 2015-03-15
Packaged: 2018-02-16 14:08:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2272656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarasunoCaptain/pseuds/KarasunoCaptain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sawamura Daichi, a history teacher and men's volleyball coach starting his fourth year at Karasuno, is asked by his principal to show a new teacher around the school. His name is Sugawara Koushi, he will be teaching Creative Writing, and Daichi can't help but be drawn to him immediately.</p><p>Caffeine - Grading Papers - Volleyball - Flings - Karaoke - Alcohol - Falling in Love.</p><p>(Three M-rated scenes and one T-rated scene in the future... Otherwise G-rated)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was a story I had been planning to write before the prompts were announced (I have always wanted to write a Teacher AU), so I used the opportunity to get going on the story before the school year really got going. I'm hoping to have this story completed in a few months (being a teacher and having marching season going on limits the amount of time I have free). Will do my best!
> 
> Also, two characters not from the Haikyuu!! universe exist. Tsuji Natsume (his first name is from Brothers Conflict) and Nozaki Kei (his personality and side occupation is from Gekkan Shoujo)
> 
> This part rated G.
> 
> For tumblr's DaiSuga Week Day 4 - Alternative Universe

"Daichi-san, how was your run this morning?"

"What?" Daichi asked, biting back a loud yawn. "Uh. Run. It was good. I don't like getting up earlier though, but I'll eventually get used to it again."

"Welcome back to the first day of getting ready for school," the man said with a hint of teasing in his voice. "You've never liked the mornings, have you?"

"Sometimes I wonder why I went into public school teaching," he said with a laugh, striding into their shared office space and setting his coffee tumbler on his desk. There weren't any papers or books on the desk yet, but that wasn't going to last for long. He sighed and pushed the button to turn on his computer and then sat down on the edge of the desk.

The physics teacher that shared the office with him swiveled around in his chair - short orange blond hair swishing gently with the motion. He was six years older than him and looked youthful, healthy, and fit. Daichi was about to start his fourth year as a teacher.

His name was Tsuji Natsume and he was well-respected by the students for his kind and playful personality and his serious passion for science. He went above and beyond for his students, incorporating exciting and fun ways to learn about the subject matter, and there was never a dull moment in his class. Natsume had moments of insanity and found himself in minor trouble with the administration a few times, but that was to be expected from almost all of the teachers.

Sawamura Daichi, on the other hand, was more stern with discipline and he thoroughly disliked his students being lazy or troublesome. He was a nice person and could be witty with some of his thoughts, but it was completely agreed on by everyone that he was the most scary person in the school when he was mad. It wasn't that he chased students down the hall or threw objects at them, but according to rumors he had heard, it was the the feeling of forbidding doom that emanated from him and the way his eyes became empty and soulless when he found things to be unacceptable.

"How was your break?" Natsume asked, azure blue eyes twinkling. "Did you take any time for yourself?"

"Yes I did," he said, scratching the back of his head. His natural black hair was quite short and gently spiky, which meant he rarely had to do anything to it to make it presentable - just a shower to take care of the side that he slept on.

"Played volleyball. Trained. Read books. That's probably all that you did."

"You know me well," Daichi said with a small smile.

"What about that teacher you met at a professional development thing?" Natsume inquired with a gentle tilt of his head. "The one with jet black really spiky hair?"

"Oh! Kuroo!" Daichi said with an embarrassed laugh. "Yeah, that isn't anything. Just a fling… or several."

"Hmm… that's too bad. He seemed rather likable from the few times he visited this office."

"We are still good friends," Daichi said, turning his upper around to swiftly type in his login information. "He is nice, but very, uh, confident about everything."

"He certainly would make most people weak in the knees. Kuroo reminds me of a large predatory cat… how is he in bed?"

"Natsume-san!" Daichi said exasperatedly. "Why do you want to know?" He saw Natsume smile and shrug.

"I _am_ a scientist," he said as he turned his chair back towards his desk. "But joking aside, I do want you to find happiness with someone. You are a very great individual that deserves someone equally as great."

"I'm not that impressive," he said, crossing his arms and frowning. "I just work and do my best. And I don't like to let myself down."

"You put people first always. There are many admirable traits about you, Daichi-san. Don't be afraid to accept certain things about yourself."

"Thanks, Natsume-san," Daichi said gratefully. He picked up his coffee and took a long draught, idly listening to the hum of their computers and the sound of Natsume typing steadily. Daichi glanced at the titles of the books in the fairly large bookshelf in the corner of the room by the window, wondering what book he wanted to read next for leisure.

"Sawamura!" a female voice called, jarring his thoughts back to the present. He turned towards the doorway and saw that it was Michimiya Yui, an English language teacher and someone he had known since middle school. She was cheery, bright, and smart, but also quite spunky and reactive to many emotions. He was fond of her company, liked giving her advice when she needed it, and treasured their friendship.

"Ah, what is it, Michimiya?"

"The principal wants you to show one of the new teachers around. He's waiting in the main office," she explained with a big smile. "Glad to see you again!" She walked into their office to stand in front him as he set his coffee tumbler down.

"It is nice to see you too," he said with a nod of his head. "Do you want to walk me there? We can catch up a little bit."

"I'll have to take a raincheck," she said regretfully. "I have things I have to do for the afternoon because I put off a lot of things, haha."

"Good luck with your work."

She punched him hard in the shoulder and he cried out in surprise. Many years of friendship had not helped him accurately predict what she was going to do next, and she had a powerful punch. He saw Natsume's shoulders shaking and it was obvious he was trying not to laugh.

"That's for not keeping in touch over the break," she said fiercely, hands on her hips. "But I am free this weekend if you want coffee. Well, you always have coffee in the mornings, but you know, coffee with me."

"Sounds good, Michimiya," he said, rubbing his shoulder and trying to massage some feeling back into it. He was still sore from strength training the other day. "I'll give you a call the night before to confirm a time."

"Awesome. See you, Sawamura. Have a good day, Tsuji-san," she said happily before vacating the office and disappearing out of sight.

"I'll see you in a while, Natsume-san," he said, climbing off of his desk and straightening out his black polo shirt and khaki shorts. It was only a work day so everyone was in casual attire.

"Have fun touring the school," he said, resuming his work at the computer. "By the way, Michimiya-san?"

"No, I'm afraid that I am only into men."

"It's a pity, but at least there's more for that Kuroo fellow… and it isn't like you to actually sleep around so…"

Daichi couldn't help but storm out in embarrassment, slamming the office door behind him. Natsume was the only one he knew that wasn't afraid of teasing him and he couldn't bring himself to scold him because of his seniority.

' _It's just a fling,'_ he thought to himself as he strode down the hall and distantly waved to the other teachers who greeted him. ' _Besides, there's no saying no when he shows up at my doorstep with a bottle of wine and that sneaky grin of his.'_

* * *

"Sawamura-san, this is Sugawara Koushi," his principal said, introducing him to the person sitting in a chair in the office. There were a few people conducting business with the secretary, but it was otherwise quiet. "He will be teaching Creative Writing."

"Pleased to meet your acquaintance," he said with a bow. "I am Sawamura Daichi and I teach history."

"Nice to meet you as well," he said, jumping to his feet and bowing. "Please take good care of me." He sounded slightly nervous, but otherwise happy to be starting his first day at their school.

"Sawamura-san, thank you," his principal said appreciatively. "Some of the other teachers are also tasked with showing the other new staff members around today. I know it's busy for all of us."

"It's fine. I'm more than happy to help," Daichi said. "After you, Sugawara-san."

He smiled warmly and stepped out of the main office, taking a right towards the fine arts wing. Daichi caught up right away and started talking about some basic history of the school - facts, figures, traditions, rules, and class offerings. Sugawara listened on with rapt attention, and Daichi could definitely tell that he was taking in as much information as he could about his environment.

Daichi observed him carefully as they started asking basic questions to each other after they finished walking through the really nice music rooms and impressive auditorium. Sugawara was only a few centimeters shorter than him, with paler skin and a slender build. His hair was a light ashy blond and the top layer reached the tips of his ears before flaring out gently. The bottom layer went just past his ears or to the top of his neck.

His eyes were a slightly lighter and softer brown than Daichi's, and they sparkled with joy and anticipation. Daichi imagined that his smile would be blindingly bright and perfectly suited to his approachable and comforting personality. He was a pretty solid judge of character, and there was no doubt in his mind that Sugawara had many positive traits and some likable quirks to share.

Sugawara's voice was much higher than Daichi's deep resounding voice, but it had its own charm that Daichi liked. It was very respectful and courteous, and Daichi felt as though he could tease well once he was more at home at the school. He wondered if he was able to sing decently as well - there were staff karaoke parties from time to time and that would be a nice icebreaker for him to experience.

They went to the pool and admired the pristine water and well-maintained facilities and then headed through the gymnasiums where Daichi mentioned that he was the coach of the men's volleyball team. Sugawara had perked up in interest, stating that he used to play as a setter with his friends, and Daichi told him he would let him know the next time his group of teachers and friends were going to play together. The beaming smile Sugawara now had confirmed that he was feeling more at ease and looking forward to great things to come.

Daichi found that he had taken a fast liking to Sugawara, who was open and easy to talk to. He also respected his passion for teaching and writing, for believing in the significance of creativity and expression, and more importantly how he wanted to support and nurture his students. Daichi's way of teaching was more focused on having students discover the greatness within themselves through hard work and discipline.

The school's library on the second floor was massive - stocked to the ceiling with books, encyclopedias, magazines, and other kinds of media. There were a plentiful amount of tables and cubicle spaces, and a variety of chairs ranging from wooden to leather. The library was one of his favorite places to be when he needed to relieve some stress or needed to not be distracted by his office computer.

The hallways were wide enough to allow a significant amount of students to walk through without creating a clog in traffic - something that Daichi was thankful for when he needed to traverse the school in a hurry. The classrooms had windows that allowed people in the hall to see what was going on, but the offices only had windows to the outside. The grass on the grounds was a bright verdant green and there was a plentiful amount of large trees for students to sit under or admire throughout the seasons. All in all, they had a respectable high school campus for their students.

"And this is your office," Daichi announced when they finally finished their tour. "I'm five doors down on the same side if you need anything."

"Thank you for your time," he said gratefully with a bow. "Oh, this office is nice!"

Daichi looked in and saw that it was more spacious than his and had tall wooden cabinets for storage as well as a nicely sized bookshelf. There was also a square table in the middle with chairs around it, which seemed perfect for spreading out projects or having meetings with other teachers.

"Looks like you are sharing with Nozaki Kei-san," he said when he noticed a large collection of art supplies on a desk. "He's one of the art teachers here and a shoujo manga artist too."

"Oh, is that so?" Suga asked interestedly. "Is he nice?"

"Yeah, but quiet. He talks in a deadpan voice most of the time, but he sure does have some quirks like the rest of us," Daichi said thoughtfully. "Things seem to go over his head a lot too, but he takes his work very seriously and does a great job with everything he does. You'll like him, I think."

"I'm looking forward to moving in tomorrow and meeting more of the teachers," Sugawara said, flashing an incredibly bright smile.

Daichi didn't know if it was because of the sunlight now streaming in through the window or if it was just his personality, but everything about him seemed to illuminate and Daichi felt his heart skip a beat.

' _Oh my god, I've been checking him out this entire time,'_ he thought to himself as he caught himself tracing the shape of Sugawara's lips and eyes and liking how the mole by his left eye gave him a nice uniqueness.

"Do you, uh, need help with your boxes?" Daichi asked, too shyly for comfort. "I mean, if you want…" He had also subconsciously flexed his arm muscles by clenching his fists, knowing that he was very capable of carrying heavy boxes.

"I wouldn't want to bother you already…" he said, blushing softly and fidgeting with the bottom of his green and white plaid shirt.

"It's no problem," he said with a huge, reassuring grin.

"Thank you, Sawamura-san!"

"Call me Daichi."

The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them, and they were both wearing the same expression of astonishment combined with embarrassment.

"Da-Daichi?" Sugawara asked tentatively. "Daichi… san?" He was completely taken aback and was checking to make sure that he heard him correctly.

"Just Daichi," he said, scratching the back of his head and laughing softly. "My friends call me that. Well, some of them if they're around my age."

' _I feel like a complete babbling idiot for letting something like that slip,'_ he thought to himself, afraid that he had already made Sugawara uncomfortable. ' _He must be confused since we haven't even known each other long enough to even say we are friends.'_

"Sorry, Sugawara-san," Daichi said, turning quickly to head out of the office and focusing on slowing down his rapidly pounding heart. "Forget it. I'll let you get some work done."

"Umm, Daichi?" Sugawara called out in a hurry. "Call me Suga. Just Suga. That is what my friends call me. Sugawara is a bit of a mouthful, isn't it?"

"Suga," he said, enjoying the sound of his nickname. "Sawamura is kind of a mouthful too, but going by Sawa sounds really tacky." He turned to face Suga who chuckled lightly.

"I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, Daichi."

"Me too. Take care." Daichi left with an uncharacteristic bound in his step, ears resonating still with the sweet sound of Suga's voice. He already found himself a bit envious of Nozaki getting to share an office with Suga although he knew that if they shared, he would never get any work done.

"What was I thinking, telling him to call me by my first name?" he whispered to himself, straightening out his stride just before he got to his office. However, he was secretly happy that Suga said that he could refer to him more personally too.

He walked to the doorway silently and saw that Natsume was studying a text book and humming softly. "Please excuse me."

"Welcome back, Daichi-san," he said, once again turning in his chair to face him. "You are already into this guy and you sure fell uncharacteristically hard and fast. Are you going through puberty late?"

"Natsume-san!" he threatened as he crossed his arms. "All I did was take him on a tour."

"I was looking at the grounds for a bit and saw you two walking to get to the pool and gyms. I could tell by how you were holding yourself around him."

Daichi couldn't help but sigh and resign to the inevitable fate of Natsume knowing more than he should and being able to deduce things so easily and logically. Natsume gave him a knowing look and resumed his work, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips and Daichi stomped over to his desk and tried to focus on getting started with his own work. It certainly wasn't easy with his mind's eye replaying images of Suga and his heart still pounding madly about how Suga's presence made him feel.

* * *

There was a knock on the open door of their office two hours later, drawing Daichi's attention away from his email that he was getting tired of answering. "Suga? Uh… wara-san," he added sheepishly when he remembered Natsume was in the room.

"I'm sorry to be by already, but I was copying some worksheets and the copy machine got jammed…" he said, fluttered and wringing his hands. "The instructions are so confusing and I don't want to mess anything up."

"The one on our floor is quite mean," Natsume said with a sigh. "Hello Sugawara-san. My name is Tsuji Natsume - physics teacher starting my tenth year of teaching."

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Sugawara Koushi."

"Daichi-san here has already told me a little bit about you during breaks in our work," he said, eyes twinkling as Daichi flushed hard. "If you ever need anything from me, let me know. Glad to help out when I can."

"Will do, Tsuji-sensei!" he said with a deep bow, also pink in the face.

"Let's go to the copy room," Daichi said, leaving his seat and going into the hall. He forced himself to swallow the thought of doing something vile to Natsume who was already armed with too much ammunition against Daichi.

"Thank you, I really didn't want to mess up my first day." His worried tone was even precious sounding, and Daichi had a vision flash through his head of holding him reassuringly and showing that everything was going to be just fine. It was a sappy and odd thought for Daichi to have and he wanted to blame getting up early as part of the reason of why he wasn't thinking clearly.

"You're fine," Daichi said as they started walking. "Paper jams are as normal as students turning in half-assed work. We'll get things sorted out." He figured a joke would ease the mood.

"Whew. Okay, good."

They trekked silently to the copy room and saw it was deserted of other staff members. The machine in question was not humming and the touch screen was blinking with the locations to check for jams. Daichi made his way over, frowning in thought as he read the screen.

He popped the front cover off first and reached in to pull a visible piece of paper out. From experience, he knew exactly where to look after detaching the finisher, what dials to turn to get stuck paper out, and how to not create a larger problem. He remembered the hour he had spent in his first year trying to decipher the instructional monochromatic diagrams and how annoyed he was about struggling through it.

"This jam is pretty intense," he noted, yanking out a piece of paper and getting black toner on his hand. "One more and I think we're good."

"Thank you again," he said kindly. "I'll try hard to not cause paper jams in the future."

"It's not your fault," he said, trying to reach into a narrow crevice with his large fingers. "Ouch!"

"Sawa… Daichi? Are you okay?"

"Yes, fine," he said, ignoring the irritation of scraping his skin against a sharp edge of metal. "Alright, let's see if that did the trick." He straightened up and put everything back together, and the start-up whirl from the machine sounded. The touch screen cleared itself of errors and asked if he wanted to resume the current copy job. He was relieved that he beat the machine in one go - sometimes the software would fight him and insist there was still a problem.

Daichi looked over at Suga who was smiling a relieved smile. He wondered how Suga's first day of classes would go - he was sure that like all first year teachers, he would be nervous on the inside, but would relax as soon as he got acquainted with the students. Being overwhelmed with paperwork was unavoidable even for the veteran teachers, but he was curious how Suga planned on handling the stress of the job. There were entirely way too many questions that he had about him, but creeping him out would be the last thing he would want to have happen.

"Good luck with preparing for school. You'll love it here," he said, thrusting his hand forward for a handshake. "I'll see you tomorrow, but wishing someone luck on their first day is good."

"I already feel like I'm welcomed here and will find success," he said, taking his hand and shaking firmly. "Oh, I forgot you had toner on your hand," Suga said and they quickly pulled their hands apart to look. He was right - there was black on both of their hands.

"Darn it!"

"Haha, it's okay. At least it's not on our clothes."

Daichi felt like an embarrassed idiot again, but at the same time, he was glad that Suga was the reason he was acting the way that he was.

* * *

The first week of school for Daichi went by fast and he hardly believed that it was already Friday and that he couldn't see the surface of his desk from all of the papers and books on it. Being both a teacher and a coach was daunting and taxing, but he couldn't imagine his life without volleyball or teaching. His tumbler was still half-full with stale coffee and he had skipped over lunch to track a few of his volleyball players who didn't turn in their confirmation forms.

He was happy with the students in his most of his classes although he knew he would have an uphill battle with one particular class container four rebellious and negative influences. He had already intimidated quite a few of the guys who were testing him and attempting to cross the line, and he also had another following of girls who found him to be handsome and dreamy, which still didn't make sense to him.

The volleyball team had a bit of a disappointing season last year, but the players worked hard and their personal improvement was starting to show. It was reassuring that his captain was now in his third year and confident in his abilities, that many of the players were in their second year and trained hard without complaint, and that the pile of interest forms from first years was bigger than ever before.

Sometimes he would pass Suga in the hall on his way to his classroom or back to his office, but their greetings were brief. Suga looked like he was doing well - exhausted and hurried, but generally content. When he travelled back and forth, Daichi normally had a couple of books tucked under one arm and a leather bag slung over a shoulder with folders, papers, and a laptop. He noticed that Suga tended to carry everything in a tall stack with both hands in front of him, using his chest to ensure that things didn't topple over. Daichi regretted that he was unable to stop and give him a hand with some of his larger trips.

He sighed loudly and fished out his computer mouse from underneath a letter he had received from Kuroo wishing him a good school year and reminding him that he was willing to offer his services if he became too stressed. Daichi could hear his casually sardonic voice when he read the letter and he was both excited at the prospect of seeing him and also annoyed that he was being teased. He started pulling up some documents on the screen, struggling with what to start on first even though there wasn't anything entirely too pressing.

' _Maybe I'll see if Suga is busy?'_ he thought to himself, knowing that he had been missing talking with him since the week prior when he helped him move into his office. ' _I wonder how his office looks now with all of his personal belongings?'_

"Natsume-san, if I don't see you when I come back, have a good weekend," he announced, loosening his tie as he stood up. "I'll be staying late to clear my desk, but it looks like you're already caught up."

"I'm able to keep up after school since I'm not coaching anything," he said warmly. "You're diligent - it shouldn't take you long to organize everything."

"That's true," he said, laughing softly. Daichi was particular about always having things put together and he was really good most of the year about it.

"Enjoy your weekend as well, Daichi-san," Natsume said with a wave of his hand. "I'll see you next week. Make sure you get a bit of sleep too. You don't want to start out the year completely beaten."

"Will do," he said, stepping out of the office and walking towards Suga's office. Thankfully, the door was open, but there was no telling who exactly was in the room.

"Oh, hello Nozaki-san," Daichi greeted when he saw the tall dark-haired man at his desk, sketching a draft of a manga page. "I'm sorry to bother you."

"Sawamura-san," he said, setting his pen down and turning his attention towards him. "How was your week?"

"It was good. Can't complain really at all except about the paperwork," Daichi said honestly as he looked around. There were many more books on the shelf, picture frames on Suga's desk, and a calendar on one of the cabinet doors. A few small pots of flowers sat on the windowsill, basking in the sunlight and looking very healthy. Manga pages were on the large square table in various states of completion.

"I had a good week as well," he said, nodding thoughtfully. "A lot of students with great potential. I also like sharing this office with Sugawara-san."

"Is that so?" he asked interestedly. "He is a very amiable person." Daichi found that he was swooning again over the little that he knew about Suga.

"He is kind and respectful," Nozaki started seriously and then he smiled a small smile. "And he helped me with cutting out screen tones because my assistant has been busy. He did a great job and he has many ideas that I can use for my manga's storyline."

' _Seriously, Nozaki?'_ Daichi thought to himself, having had heard rumors about how people ended up getting roped into working for him. _'I mean, they don't do it because they dislike it, but Nozaki has such a one-track mind sometimes…'_

"Glad to hear that he was able to help," Daichi said politely. "Do you know if he went home for the day?"

"I'm right here," a voice said from behind him and Daichi flinched out of surprise. "Hello, Daichi."

"Haha, good afternoon Suga," he said, stepping aside so Suga could go into his office with his stack of copies. "Is the copy machine treating you well?"

"Yes, haven't had problems since that time," he said with a kind smile.

"Thank you for your help the other day, Sugawara-san," Nozaki said and Suga's entire being brightened. "I'm not worried about making the deadline now."

"Anytime, Nozaki-san."

Nozaki turned back towards his current page and started working again, pen scratching softly in the temporary silence and loud rustling when he flipped back and forth between thick pages.

"How was your week, Daichi?" Suga asked as he set the pile of papers on his relatively tidy desk.

"Great. Fairly respectful and seemingly responsible students. Solid volleyball practices and a lot of interest from first years," Daichi said, leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. "What about you?"

"I think I might be too nice?" he said with a lofty laugh. "Half of my classes are quite talkative… not in a mean way because I think they like me, but it's hard to tell early on. I can tell that there are some that are really into creative writing though and that's reassuring."

"Who wouldn't like you?" he said honestly, hoping that it didn't come off as a flirty comment. "It's your first year - it's not supposed to be easy, but you can do anything you put your mind to."

"Spoken very much like a coach," he teased, picking up a mug that had some kind of steaming liquid in it and taking a sip from it. "Mmm, I like this tea a lot." Daichi suddenly noticed that the office also gained a water heater that was tucked in the corner on a smaller table.

"Do you like coffee by any chance?"

"Yes, but not as much as tea," he said, blowing on the tea to cool it off. "You must like coffee. I've seen a tumbler in your hand sometimes."

"I like tea too," he added with a grin. "Would you like to have coffee with me on Sunday? We can talk about the week and other things." He became nervous - his original intention was only to stop by and check in on him before leaving, but thoughts and ideas tended to spill out of his mouth whenever he was around Suga. Asking if he wanted to spend time with him was entirely too fast, and he braced himself for a rejection.

"Umm, well, you see…" Suga started hesitantly, setting the cup down.

"No pressure or anything," he said reassuringly, straightening up with a worried look on his face. "I like going to cafes and the thought kind of came out…"

"No, it's not you," he interjected with an embarrassed laugh. "I don't live that close and I take the train to get to work. Maybe we could do after school or something?"

"Oh! Alright, I'm overreacting," he said, fully aware that he was making a fool out of himself again. "I have volleyball practice pretty much every day and wouldn't want you to stay that late."

"It's not a problem."

"I'll drive out to meet you at your favorite cafe, how's that?" Daichi offered courteously. "We can plan this one, and then on a night where you end up staying at school past when volleyball practice is done, we can take a trip to my favorite cafe."

"Are you sure about wanting to drive?"

"Absolutely. Who knows how busy I'll be on other weekends once competitions and meets start? And you'll be busy too with grading and adjusting things in your curriculum and making sure that you are achieving your professional goals." Daichi was jabbering again, trying to disguise how much he wanted to spend time with him so he wouldn't scare him.

"Well, if you're fine with driving, then yes, I would like to go out for tea," he said sounding very shy but happy. "How does Sunday around 10am sound?"

"Great. Just great."

"Let me write my address down for you…" he said, pulling open a drawer to retrieve a memo pad. Daichi waited patiently, silently admiring how good Suga looked in a shirt and tie. "And I wrote my number on there for you too in case you're running late or get caught somewhere." He presented him the piece of paper with neat handwriting, and although their fingers brushed just barely in exchange, Daichi felt a shock go through his hand.

"Thanks! It will be nice to talk away from school," he said, tucking the paper in his pocket. "I'm going back to my office to get ready to go home."

"Okay, I'll see you soon. Thanks for asking."

"You're welcome," he said sincerely. "Have a good weekend, Nozaki-san." He saw the artist wave him off with a small smile. "See you on Sunday, Suga."

Daichi left and felt as though he could fly from how ecstatic he was that Suga said yes to spending time with him. He had plans to have coffee with Michimiya the next morning, and he knew that he would have to work extra hard to not arouse suspicion from her regarding Suga. Daichi wasn't ready for anyone to be happy for him unless he was very sure that Suga actually liked guys and that there was a chance for their relationship to deepen.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Volleyball and Pork Buns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year's everyone! Thank to all of those who left kudos/comments on my stories in 2014 - your support is greatly appreciated <3
> 
> ... It turned out that the fall semester turned out to be extremely busy for me this year and it was a miracle I even got enough words in for NaNoWriMo this year OTL Apologies for the delay in updating the story!
> 
> This part rated G.

If Daichi had all of the free time in the world and unlimited endurance, he would probably play volleyball with his friends every minute that he could. However, he had bills to pay and so did they, but at least they were all in professions they were passionate about and that still gave them a bit of free time to enjoy life.

Daichi felt bad that he was usually the reason they didn't get together to play volleyball as much as they wanted, but they didn't' hold it against him. As troublesome as some of them could be, and as scary as Daichi could be when he was mad at them, they were all staunchly loyal to each other. He looked forward to their company especially on more stressful days because their energy was contagious and because he knew he could torment one of them for amusement if he needed to.

With some stroke of luck, Daichi had a free Saturday rather early on in the year, and Nishinoya messaged everyone so fast that Daichi was astounded. Hinata and Kageyama replied immediately and he couldn't help but laugh knowing how much they had been dying to play with everyone else. Some of the others had to work extra hard to get all of their papers graded and emails answered so that they wouldn't fall behind and have to opt out.

Once things were set, Daichi went to invite Suga - heart rattling in his chest with each step towards his office. He was fretting over what he would say if Suga couldn't go, but also if he would feel comfortable with the group of dynamic personalities. To his relief, Suga said that he was able to go, and the slightly bashful blush that accompanied his reply made Daichi swoon a little inside. 

He spent the days leading up to the meet-up teaching, coaching, grading papers, and wondering how Suga was as a volleyball player. Daichi finally admitted to himself that he was more into Suga than he ever thought he would be, especially after the conversation at Suga's favorite tea shop a few weeks ago. He laughed easily and felt extremely comfortable opening himself up to him, and didn't mind that some of the stuff he said was dorky enough to cause Suga to chuckle at him. The earl gray that Suga recommended for him was delightful as well, and there were a few times that Daichi caught himself dreaming of going back with Suga, having a cup of tea and an unhurried conversation. He honestly hoped that his feelings weren't too obvious to other people for both their sakes.

* * *

"Captain's here!"

"Daichi-san!"

"Hey guys! Sorry I'm running a bit late," he said, dropping his duffel bag on the ground near the wall. "I ended up taking this call that went longer than what I was expecting."

"No excuses from the captain!" Tanaka declared with a raucous laugh. "At least you've already changed."

"Well, yeah, I want to get in as much play time as possible," Daichi said, stretching one arm over the other and holding it. He was indeed the last one, and unusually so seeing that he was really good about being on time to all of his engagements.

There were balls scattered about the gym from their warm-up drills and a collection of duffel bags and backpacks near the wall where Daichi had dropped his. Water bottles and towels were resting on the benches, and a few warm-up jackets were in a haphazard pile from being tossed there from the court. The players were burning with competitive and restless energy, and Daichi grinned knowing that they were going to play some good games today. However, he didn't see Suga around and his heart sank a little, wondering if something came up at the last minute, and his phone was on silent in his bag.

"Something wrong, Daichi?"

"Hahaha, no!" he said, clapping Asahi as hard as he could on the back and causing Asahi to issue a loud, startled 'ack' in response. "Not at all. Now let's run some warm-up la…" He didn't have time to finish his sentence before Hinata and Kageyama tore off, desperately trying to get ahead of each other.

"Uhm, guys…" Asahi started tentatively.

"Oh man, I'm getting fired up!" Nishinoya said, bounding forward merrily. "Let's go, Ryuu! Asahi!"

Daichi ran at a steady pace, knowing that a proper warm-up was crucial to lasting through a match. He had long given up telling Hinata and Kageyama to not overexert themselves immediately, but that didn't mean he wasn't inwardly annoyed watching them run and hiss insults at each other. He was suddenly reminded of Natsume and Kuroo both teasing him for acting like a father scolding his children. It was mistake to have let them know he was nicknamed 'Papa Daichi' for being a fatherly volleyball captain in high school.

"Okay, done!" Hinata said, flying from the perimeter of the gym to the quarter-full cart of volleyballs. "Kageyama, toss for me so I can spike!"

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"Asahi! Let's pass some more! I need to make sure my Rolling Thunder is top-notch!"

"Ennoshita, you need some more energy! Liven up! Oh wait - it's just your face."

"Do I always look that tired to you, Tanaka?"

"Tsukki! It's been a while!"

"… Don't call me that here, Yamaguchi…"

"You all have five minutes to practice on your own, and then we'll do a group drill," he said and they all shouted back in agreement. Daichi joined Asahi and Nishinoya in a circle and took turns passing, setting, and striking the ball. He felt as though he was in good form, getting nice height on his sets and and digging well against their harder attacks. Some of them got a bit away from him, and he knew it was because he was struggling with wondering where Suga was.

"Okay guys, group up! Kageyama by the net - two lines for the rest of us. One line throws the ball to him, he'll set it to a spiker in the other line, and then we'll switch sides once everyone is through."

"Yes, Captain!"

The drill ran like clockwork from having played together many times. Only Nishinoya was from the high school he was from, and they were very strong defense specialists on the team. The others either worked in Karasuno with Daichi or were friends of Nishinoya from around town. Their group was tight-knit and great to be around, and Daichi was thankful that he was able to still play a high level of volleyball with skilled players.

"One line of spikers stay on this side. Everyone else go to the other side to receive or block - your choice. When we switch, I'll be the setter," Daichi said after they finished their first drill. "After this, we'll divide up into teams, do some practice serves, and then we'll start playing."

They all shuffled up in a hurry, eager to get things done quickly. Daichi did a quick glance around for Suga, and was met with disappointment once again. Shaking it off as best as he could, he sprinted over to the other side, ready to receive the first attack. It was from Tanaka, whose spike already had some impact on it, and Daichi grinned from the momentary pain of the ball striking his forearms, but then shooting right up to where he wanted it to be. He could feel the muscles in his legs working, strong and agile from his regular strength training.

As they spiked, blocked, approached, and received the ball, Daichi couldn't help but be in coach mode and give them advice on how to better their forms or how to keep calm and focused. They didn't mind at all and greatly welcomed all of his advice - it one of the reasons why they all referred to him as their captain even though they were an unofficial team.

The gym door opened right as Daichi sent a spike soaring past Tsukishima, and although it felt great when it struck the palm of his hand, it was just out-of-bounds. As his feet made contact with the ground, he saw that Suga was there, wearing gym clothes and an expression of apologetic uncertainty.

"Suga!" Daichi exclaimed, running up as fast as possible to him. "I was worried you weren't going to make it."

"It came up suddenly - some students wanted extra help on their assignment and came in earlier today, and I needed to get a bunch of copies done for tomorrow," he said, shifting the bag he had slung over his shoulder. "I'm sorry I'm late."

"Not a problem. Just set your stuff down and hop on in. We can go back and teach you these two drills."

"Suga? Is that really you?" Asahi called out and Daichi turned to see that the team had gathered up behind in, almost all looking at Suga with curious excitement.

"Asahi?" Suga said, suddenly brightening up with pleasant surprise. "Oh my goodness, I didn't know that you played with Daichi!"

"I didn't know that you were teaching in his school!"

"Wait, how do you two know each other?" Daichi asked, dumbfounded that they were having a small world moment.

"Same middle school. We were in the same class and we played volleyball with friends," Asahi said, smiling gently. "It's so good to see you again."

"Captain here didn't mention that we would be having a new person joining our group," Tanaka said, nudging Daichi with an elbow roughly. "Welcome to the group, Suga is it?"

"My name is Sugawara Koushi, but Suga is what I go by with close friends," he said with a polite bow. "Thank you for having me."

"He's a setter," Daichi said, directing his comment to Kageyama who nodded. "Kageyama here as I mentioned before is an excellent setter."

"A prodigy!"

"He's scary!"

"When I hit his sets, it feels like 'Bam!' in my hand and then it also is like 'Bam!' when it hits the floor too!"

"Don't talk over me!" Daichi hollered irritably and the three offenders back up a foot away from him. "Anyways, I'm sure you can both learn from each other."

"Nice to meet you, Sugawara-san."

"Asahi, Tanaka, Ennoshita, and I are wing spikers. Yamaguchi has a solid float serve and is decent at all positions. Tsukishima is a middle blocker and Hinata functions as a middle blocker who can spike. WIth you, we can now play five-on-five."

"I like you already," Hinata said, bouncing up and down on his feet. "I am getting really positive vibes from you."

"You'll fit right in," Asahi assured him warmly.

"Okay, let's get back to it," Daichi said, heading back to the court, and they all followed suit. "We'll have time later to introduce ourselves and how we all ended up here together."

Suga gave him an appreciative smile and he smiled back, extremely relieved that Suga was finally there with them. He felt his spirits start to soar, and he  firmly reminded himself not to show off needlessly and disrupt the team dynamic. Suga looked much more comfortable than he did when he first arrived, most likely due to seeing a familiar face, being welcomed so kindly, and realizing he is potentially nearly as odd, crazy, and dorky as the rest of them.

* * *

It didn't take Suga long to get accommodated to how each player wanted the ball placed or the rhythm at which they moved at. He wasn't pinpoint accurate like Kageyama, but there was a certain sense of trust that emanated from him that they felt very encouraged by. He was observant - eyes analyzing each movement with a sharp focus, trying to anticipate what the player was going to do next. It was the inwardly tenacious look of someone who knew they weren't the best around, but really wanted to do the best that they could.

They took the time to learn his hand signals so they knew what to expect for an attack. Some of them were really geeked about having non-verbal communication since they were used to calling for the ball when they wanted it or knowing that Kageyama was going to get it to any one of them at any given moment. Admittedly he was surprised that some of them memorized any of them at all since they were terrible at that sort of stuff in general from their academic days.

Daichi was on Suga's team for the first game, along with Asahi, Ennoshita, and Tsukishima. He was bursting with excitement and adrenaline, and couldn't wait to spike one of Suga's sets. Tanaka had the first serve, sending it speeding towards Daichi, who had to dig really low to get it back up in the air. It felt good though, and he knew that he had the perfect form when he got it. Suga hustled into position easily, and sent it flying in a graceful arc towards Asahi who slammed it right past Hinata.

Suga's smile right then was incredibly beautiful and Daichi was rather taken. The way that his fingertips flexed when they touched the ball was gentle and light, and the way his slender arms stretched was graceful and well-practiced. Suga's concentrated face was nowhere as intense as Daichi's or some of the others, but it looked as though he was both mesmerized by the ball and calculating how to get the ball to where he wanted.

In contrast, Daichi's was more vocal, calling out 'Good serve!', 'Cover!', and 'Don't mind - we'll get the next one!' as the game progressed. Whenever he received the ball, he tended to either grin at the person who sent it or frown if he did not handle it the way he wanted to. His mind was always speeding forward - how the play way going to evolve, what the other team was going to do, and how to keep everyone calm but still burning with intensity.

Daichi's first attempted spike was a failure because he jumped too late and then sent the ball straight into the net. Daichi groaned - he really wanted to impress Suga even though he wasn't the showy type at all. His pride wanted to prove that there was a reason he was captain both in high school and now, and also why he was the coach of the Karasuno men's volleyball team.

He preferred the ground, moving swiftly to cover his territory and prevent the opposing from scoring, but he enjoyed the feeling of leaping high into the air, legs pointing backwards, body arched, and right arm cocked behind and to the side of his head, ready to strike the ball. When he finally landed one, his palm driving the ball to an open space and wrist snapping downwards for maximum impact, he was elated. Daichi gave Suga a big albeit cheesy grin and thanked his teammates who had congratulated him.

It was a very close game, full of lightning fast spikes, unpredictable serves, fiercely blocked attacks, and well-placed sets. Despite their best effort, Daichi's side ended up losing both sets by only a few points mainly because they had trouble receiving and blocking Hinata's and Kageyama's 'freak quick' set. Asahi had the most points out of all of them, but Ennoshita played his best game yet with even more points than Daichi. Nishinoya wasn't moving as quickly as he usually did, which Daichi was thankful for for their score to be as close as it was.

They switched teams and Daichi and Suga ended up getting separated. Tsukishima and Ennoshita stayed with him, and they gained Nishinoya and Kageyama. This time it was a battle of offense versus defense instead of the balanced teams they had for their first match. Daichi felt his blood pump furiously in acceptance of the challenge, and he hoped that they could wear out the other team by not letting a ball get past them.

As much as he liked being on the same side of the net as Suga, he also enjoyed observing him from the other side while waiting for the serve without arousing too much suspicion. In gym shorts and a t-shirt, Suga looked more slender than he did in work clothes, and his pale skin was soft and flawless. He seemed a bit frustrated that his sets were rusty, but smiled in relief each time one was tossed just right and the spiker was able to score.

Daichi also saw that Suga had many sides to his personality that were subdued during the school day. He would give Daichi a mischievous look whenever he felt ready to surprise him, high-five Hinata and Tanaka as energetically as they ran at him, and praise Asahi and Yamaguchi for good serves and hits. Suga had a wide grin that was rather akin in feeling to Daichi's big doofy one and had facial expressions that were similar to the rest of their teammates' extreme expressions. Daichi breathed a sigh of relief that he fit in so well, but feared a little about some of their antics rubbing off on him.

* * *

After a thrilling three-set game with Daichi colliding into Nishinoya and causing everything to stop for a minute as they recovered, Hinata squarely hitting a ball into the back of Asahi's head and enabling a lot of rowdy laughter, and Tsukishima baiting Tanaka to fight by calling him a 'city boy' and then shutting him down with mean block, it was time to clean up the gym.  For as much energy as they used while playing, Kageyama and Hinata always seemed to have enough in reserve to race each other sweeping the floor with the dust mops.

"Hey! Be careful!" he scolded them as they started trying to bump each other off course like a racing video game. "I don't want another broken mop!"

"Captain, here!"

"Thanks Ennoshita," he said, holding his hands out to catch a volleyball Ennoshita was tossing to him. "Keep them coming, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi."

"A-ah yes!"

"…"

"Maaaaan, I hate folding up the nets!" Tanaka whined loudly. "They get all tangled! Here, Asahi, you do it! You're the ace!"

Suga rushed over to help Tanaka, and with Asahi's help as well, they were able to tidy up the nets faster than Daichi had ever seen them do it before. Suga must have been the one to take care of his group of friends whenever they played volleyball in middle school. Daichi was a bit envious of how good-natured he was talking with Asahi, beaming brightly and chuckling softly with nostalgia. He hoped that one day they would be that close.

' _Damn it, I''m thinking about him again,'_ he thought, setting another volleyball in the cart. ' _The team is going to know something is up.'_

"Yo, Daichi-san! Are you listening?" Nishinoya called out in concern.

"Huh?" he asked, but was unable to say anything else before a volleyball promptly smacked him on the side of the face.

"Ahhhh, Daichi-san is going to kill me!!" Hinata screamed as soon as he saw Daichi's eyes darken and a scarily mean glare formed. He high-tailed across the gym, clumsily grabbing his duffel bag, and scrambled out the door before any of them could blink. A scoffing noise escaped Tsukishima's mouth but otherwise it was silent as they all waited on edge, wondering if Daichi was going to victimize one of them instead.

"Hahaha, let's finish cleaning up," Daichi said, suddenly with a huge grin. "I'm treating you all to pork buns tonight." He could have sworn he heard a whoosh of air from everyone daring to breathe again.

"Suga, Daichi-san is so scary…" he heard Asahi say, trembling as he picked up a folded net. "Is he mean to you?"

"I can't imagine that he would ever be," he said, winking in Daichi's direction. "After all, I found his glare to be a bit amusing to be honest." He then proceeded to karate chop Asahi in the side, eliciting another 'ack'! that Daichi was rather fond of hearing. 

Daichi was left to wonder exactly how he found someone who not only was unintimidated by his scary side, but also would be able to put him in his place without any hesitation. He secretly liked that Suga was a sweet, caring angel with a devilish side underneath, and that despite being really close with Asahi, he could push him around just as badly as Daichi did.

* * *

"You treat everyone to pork buns each time?" Suga asked Daichi when they created some space between the rest of the group in front of the convenience store. There were only a few cars that passed by, headlights shining brightly on them momentarily.

"Most of them time, especially if we play on the weekend. It worked out that everyone likes meat, and pork buns are cheap and accessible. This store's owner has the best around town."

"They're really good," Suga said happily, taking a bite out of the one he had and chewing quickly. "Thank you."

"No, thank you for coming today. It was a lot of fun."

"It was, although I wish that I could have played better…"

"Suga," he said firmly, coach mode initiating before he could stop himself. "You haven't played in years, and this is a new group of people. Developing these relationships will take time, but they like you a lot and that's a fantastic start."

"I like them a lot too. I suppose I'm a bit intimidated by how good Kageyama is." Suga was blushing softly, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand and avoiding eye contact with Daichi.

"He's freakishly good. Don't compare yourself to him, or you'll never be happy. Just always aim for the top and work as hard as you can work. Contribute your best and enjoy being around people that are passionate about the same things as you."

"Daichi, you really do sound like a dad sometimes. It's no wonder how you got that nickname."

He was stunned at how blunt Suga's statement was and at the fact that Natsume had told him about it, but was able to shake it off when Suga took another bite out of his pork bun and seemed a lot less stressed. Daichi smiled and started devouring his as he watched the others interact idly. Hinata and Tanaka looked as though they were plotting something and Nishinoya had somehow managed to jump onto Asahi's back and give him a strange, one-armed hug around his neck. Ennoshita was inquiring about Tsukishima's new duffel bag and Yamaguchi was happy just listening to their conversation while eating. Even though they were grown adults, it seemed as though they were acting like how they were in their high school days.

"You're digging up information on me?" he teased, nudging Suga's arm with his elbow.

"It's not hard when Natsume is involved," he countered playfully. "I like to know lots of things about my friends."

"I'm more than happy to share."

"Sugawara-san! Thank you for playing with us!" Hinata said, running over and jumping up and down, flailing his arms wildly. "You're an awesome setter and you gave me really good advice!"

"I want to play again," he said warmly, reaching out to ruffle his hair. It was instinctive and he was suddenly embarrassed, but Hinata leaned it and allowed it with a content expression on his face.

"Sugawara-san is so cool!"

"Yeah, you're more nurturing than Daichi-san!" Tanaka said with a big booming laugh.

"Thanks for playing today," Tsukishima said quietly, adjusting the large set of headphones around his neck.

"It was nice meting you." Yamaguchi said shyly but welcomingly as well. "I'll keep getting better too."

"I'm looking forward to next time," Ennoshita said honestly with a soft smile.

"Suga-san, you compliment Daichi-san so well!" Nishinoya observed, standing proudly with his hands on his hips and grinning at the both of them.

"What does that mean?"

"We're all dorks, but Suga-san's mature like you," Nishinoya explained with an eye roll like Daichi should have realized the answer by how obvious it was. "And he really looks after us with advice and wanting us to be able to do well, but the way he does it is more like a mother would…"

"Noya! You're totally right! I see it now!"

"Oooooo Mama Suga! That sounds perfect!"

"Baka! Don't give him a nickname already!"

"Yamaguchi. Let's leave."

"We should change the subject…"

"Mama Suga! I like it, Hinata!"

"Paired with Papa Daichi!"

"Pfft."

"HEY WILL YOU GUYS CUT IT OUT?!" Daichi bellowed, eye twitching from how annoyed he was about how loud they were talking and how embarrassed he was from getting partnered up with Suga in that way. Even though it wasn't romantically implied whatsoever, he didn't need another thing stirring up feelings for Suga.

"YOU LOT ARE BEING OBNOXIOUS AGAIN!" Ukai hollered from his convenience store, shaking his smoking cigarette at them. Daichi smacked Tanaka and Hinata over the head and then went up to apologize with an awful lot of bowing to the person who had coached him when he was in high school. When he and the team were forgiven and told to stop by again sometime soon, he jogged back to Suga who surprisingly was rather unfazed by his new nickname.

"They really do look up to you," Suga said warmly and everyone nodded, some holding a thumbs up and others grinning widely.

"I know and I think highly of them," he said, humbled greatly by his team. He felt elated and wishing again that they could play much more often together. "But something tells me that it won't be long before you become their favorite. And I suppose that isn't a bad thing either. I won't be too jealous."

"Well…" Suga said, a mischievous glint flashing in his eyes. He walked up closely, too closely for Daichi's pulse to not suddenly accelerate, and then whispered in his ear. "Of course children like their mother more. Their father is supposed to be the scary bad guy."

Daichi wouldn't have been surprised if he was the color of tomatoes fully ripened by the sun after hearing that comment, but before he could respond, the team immediately bombarded him with questions about what Suga said to him and why on earth he was so embarrassed.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An Evening Fling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three snow days in a row last week (although one of them was a negative wind chill cold day) and quite a few massive pile-up accidents on the highways :( Be safe on the roads everyone!
> 
> On the flipside, days off school means more time to think about writing and then to finally do it. And sleep - gotta store energy now for the long stretch until summer (Spring Break is taken - we're taking the high school band to Florida).
> 
> This part is KuroDai and is rated M. Please enjoy reading!

"Here. Catch," Kuroo said and Daichi caught the can of beer easily, cool condensation against his fingers. "Ah well, if you open it now, it might fizz all over you. My bad."

"Why didn't you think of that before you tossed it?" Daichi asked dryly and Kuroo shrugged nonchalantly.

"Not like you haven't gotten sticky wet stuff on your clothes before…" he said,  narrow eyes glinting mischievously as he slid over the backside of his handsome black leather couch and landed on the seats very much like a cat. A large, predatory cat that liked to play with his food before he ate it with a satisfied smirk.

"You're an ass."

"I know you would prefer to be giving then receiving, but I'm glad that…"

Daichi shot him a glare that would have sent normal people fleeing for their lives, shifting away from him on the couch to use the armrest. They had already eaten dinner separately, seeing that they were both running late from volleyball practice, and so Kuroo had wasted no time getting out the booze upon Daichi's arrival.

His living room was sleek and modern with black furniture and chrome handles, a really nice and expensive flatscreen TV, and a large grayscale art piece on the wall. The curtains were open to reveal a great view of the city - sun sinking slowly behind tall buildings and twinkling lights sparkling on the water. Everything was clean and pristine and the only thing that seemed a bit out of place were the pair of black leather gloves on the glass coffee table.

His bedroom, however, was kind of a wild mess, but hardly anyone was allowed to venture in there. Daichi remembered the first time he was in there and how he had tripped over a skateboard that was buried underneath a pile of dirty clothes and landed firmly on his ass, causing Kuroo to painfully crash land on top of him. It was humiliating and unfortunately Kuroo was not one to let him off easy about embarrassing situations.

"So… how's school?" Kuroo asked, leaning up against the other armrest with his upper back and putting his legs across the length of the couch. He touched Daichi's thigh with his foot and nudged him. "Loosen your tie and relax."

Daichi obliged, tugging on the knot of his burnt orange tie as Kuroo undid his red one completely with one hand while drinking his beer. Kuroo gave off the impression of being a lazy, troublesome sleaze, but when he was serious, he could be very intimidating.

"School started off well. There's been a lot of late nights now that volleyball is going."

"Yeah, I hear you there man," he said, setting his mostly empty can down on the coffee table with a soft chink. "Can't wait to play your team. Are we going to trounce you again like we did last tournament?"

"No, you are not," he gritted through his teeth, recalling the unpleasant memory of their last match. There was hardly any contest between their two teams, and Daichi had struggled to find the right words to say to help build back his players' self-esteem. However, that was the largest defeat of the season, and so they were even more motivated to grow as soon as the next practice came up and Daichi declared that the only way they were allowed to move was forward.

"It's alright, we like strong competition," Kuroo said casually. "Makes people really put their best on the line."

"Absolutely," Daichi agreed, now carefully opening his can of beer. Luckily, it did not fizz and he took a long draught from it. "Ah, that's refreshing."

"I don't buy cheap beer. No way."

Daichi chuckled, taking another drink and enjoying the dry, slightly bitter flavor as Kuroo leapt up and ran to the kitchen. Not even a few seconds later, he reappeared with three cans of beer in his hands, tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth in concentration.

"Two for me, one for you," he said, setting them on the coffee table and then pulling out coasters from a nearby drawer. "School's going well for me. Got a new principal and got in trouble my first day."

"For?" Daichi asked skeptically. Knowing Kuroo, it could have been for anything even if he had nothing to do with it.

"She thought that I purposely had my hair done to look rebellious," he said with a grin. "She also didn't believe me when I said it's just my behead. Told me to take a shower in the morning, but I don't want to get up any earlier than I have to."

"Yeah, I know. I never want to get up either, but that's kind of funny. I thought you were up to no good when I first met you too."

"I'm still up to no good," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Me and Bokuto, man. You'll die early with our abuse."

"Then lay off of me."

"Nah, then life isn't any fun," he said, stretching out his arms and then winking at him. "But anyways, my classes are going well. Got quite a few history buffs this year. I was tempted to tell them a bit of _our_ history, but it would have been too graphic for them."

The huskiness of Kuroo's voice was causing Daichi to feel hot, and a few more drinks meant that Kuroo would want to have his way with him. The mere thought of sex was already affecting Daichi, causing his pants to tent up a little bit, but not noticeable enough for Kuroo to comment.

"My classes are well-behaved this year. Unlike you."

"That's because you are scary. You must have gotten scarier."

"I need structure and I have high expectations. School is for learning - I don't want to tolerate laziness."

"Respectable. I agree with all of that."

Daichi smiled knowing that despite outward appearances and a different teaching approach, Kuroo was very intelligent and did expect a lot out of his students. He started drinking his beer again as Kuroo started to down his with loud, gulping noises.

"But you know, sometimes you just have to have that nice romp in the broom closet with your boxers down at your ankles… keep things a little spicy, yeah?" he rambled on as they drank. "Haha, but you are afraid of getting caught."

"I like my job. I want to keep it," he said resolutely. "Can we change the subject?"

"Sure. Tell me about your co-workers," Kuroo asked, setting the now empty can on the coaster. "Mine are the same as always - some nice ones, some who need to get their heads out of their asses, some funny ones, and some who are just plain weird."

"I think that that is typical for any workplace," Daichi said, finally finishing his first beer and pondering if he should start on his second right away. He decided against it knowing that he would not have time to finish it before other things happened. "What about new teachers?"

"Same kind of mix. There is one who is really short with blonde hair that stops just past his chin. Kind of floats in and out like a cloud… like he's absorbed only with the thoughts in his head, but then he'll sit for hours on end underneath the window of his office engrossed in some handheld electronic device."

"You sound like you're interested in him."

"Curiosity. He's odd, but I think I would like to friend him," Kuroo revealed thoughtfully, cracking out his third can of beer with a satisfying hiss before leaning back on the couch. "He seems shy and probably would prefer to be by himself…"

"Just don't scare him off, okay?"

Kuroo pushed on his thigh with his foot as hard as possible. "I got this, Sawamura. Anyway, anyone new at your school?"

Suga went right to the forefront of his mind and Daichi couldn't help but smile from how happy he was for all of the time they had spent together. He often caught himself reminiscing about the cafe they had gone to in the area that Suga lived, and wishing that they could go again soon. He loved the quaintness of the atmosphere - a pastel green and ivory color scheme and beautiful oak furniture with soft sunlight coming in through the windows. Since the place specialized in tea, there were tea pots and cups with pretty designs displayed on shelves, tea leaves in containers lining the main counter, and clear teapots showing some of the more expensive leaves steeping. They talked for several hours, and Daichi sometimes laughed embarrassingly loud in response to some of Suga's stories, but the smile he evoked was completely worth it.

Their meet-up volleyball game was equally as enjoyable. He got to see more sides of Suga and some that he wasn't aware existed and the team took to him much quicker than he had anticipated. Suga was keenly observant and sneakily mischievous, laughing freely and brightly when things were going well. He was refreshing to play with and Daichi honestly thought that that was the most fun he had in a while. He sometimes dreamt of their next volleyball meet-up - Suga in athletic attire, fingers flexing gracefully as he tossed the ball, soft brown eyes glimmering with concentration, and that joyous smile when things happened just the way he wanted them to.

"What?" Kuroo said, not missing the smile at all.

"Nothing."

"Liar. And also, don't be an asshole by not telling me."

"Just thinking about a wonderful friend I had made."

Kuroo perked an eyebrow up in curiosity and then grinned like a cheshire cat. Daichi rolled his eyes at him, knowing that Kuroo was wondering if it was a friend or a special friend.

"He's a new teacher straight out of college. His name is Sugawara Koushi, he teaches Creative Writing, played volleyball in middle school with friends, and really likes tea." Daichi said, electing to only tell him some basic information. Talking about how Suga made him feel would have caused him to blush uncontrollably.

"I bet you he would like your dick too. In a broom closet."

' _So much for not getting embarrassed,'_ he thought grumpily to himself.

"You have no class. He's only a friend."

"Doesn't mean he doesn't want a taste. You obviously do."

"Kuroo."

"Sawamura," Kuroo said, sitting up and setting his third empty beer can on the table before going back into his stretched out position. "I'm being serious now. It's written all over your face that you like this guy - that you are interested in him being more than just fling material."

"It is not written on my face!" he exclaimed and then groaned loudly because he fell pray to Kuroo's trap. "Damn you!"

"Come on, tell me."

"He's sweet and conscientious with a beautiful smile," Daichi started, resting back against the leather couch and staring up at the ceiling. "And when we ended up talking about our personal lives, I told him that I was having a non-committed series of flings with you, and even though he was surprised, he didn't hold it against me or anything. He's single - had a couple of boyfriends, but didn't do anything past kissing."

"Now there's a keeper - pure, innocent, understanding, and accepting.. And ouch, I'm wounded. Is that all I am to you - a sex toy?"

"You know what I mean!"

"Keep going… darling."

"I don't know if I just like his company or if there's something more. Too early to tell." Daichi finished with a faraway yet heavy sigh. He thought that telling Kuroo would relieve some of the burden of keeping it entirely to himself, but it seemed to make his confused feelings more intense.

"Yeah, it might be too early, but I wouldn't ignore how you feel. Just give it time, yeah? Be honest to yourself."

"Mmmhmm."

"Is he good-looking?"

"I'd say he has a boyish charm," Daichi said, pulling his eyes away from the ceiling and Kuroo's grin became more pronounced. "His ashy blonde hair looks radiant in sunlight."

"Wow, he sounds like the complete opposite of me," Kuroo said, sitting up once again. "Not that that's a bad thing."

Daichi knew that Kuroo was waiting to kiss him, but he wasn't ready to be pounced on, falling back against the seat of the couch.

"Ack!"

Kuroo kissed him hungrily, gripping his shirt with his fingers. Daichi returned the kiss with an aggressive one of his own, but he was trying to push Kuroo's hips away from grinding against his growing erection. He wasn't going to go down without a fight at least, but it was difficult to stop Kuroo once he got going.

"I've missed you, but did you have to jump on me like that?"

"Missed you too. But man, why are you trying to push me away?"

"Because it gets tight in my pants and I think it's uncomfortable to be rubbed through fabric."

"Ooh?" he asked, cocking his head with a cheeky grin.

"And this is a new shirt you are clawing. Plus I really like this tie."

"Clothes off in a hurry!" he said enthusiastically, climbing off of Daichi so that he could undress. Kuroo's were gone so quickly that Daichi couldn't believe his eyes, and he couldn't quite believe the raging erection he was seeing either. Everything about him was either tall or long -  from his hair, his height, his arms, his legs, and his private area.

"How do you fit that in those skinny pants of yours?" he asked incredulously.

"I dunno… used to it I suppose," he said, standing proudly with his hands on his hips. "I'm a horny man. You can't fault me for that." His last statement sounded like he was reprimanding an overly skeptical student, and Daichi remembered he could be every bit as serious as Daichi was.

"No I can't, but you are a handful," Daichi said, sitting down on the couch, now completely naked. "So what do you want to do first?"

Kuroo looked as though Christmas had come early and bounded to stand in front of Daichi. He coaxed Daichi to lean slightly forward and then he slid himself in slowly. Kuroo knew that Daichi was not found of deep throating and didn't want to ruin the mood by pressuring him.

"It's not like you're any smaller," he teased, using his thumb to wipe some of the saliva away from the corner of his mouth. "But man, I needed this… needed you…"

Kuroo let Daichi start bobbing back and forth, sliding his tongue along his length and sucking the head gently. Seeing Kuroo's face relax into one of blissful pleasure made desire and pride start pumping more intensely through Daichi's veins. He wondered how quickly he could reduce Kuroo's control before he wanted to have intercourse.

One of Daichi's hands went on Kuroo's behind to help steady himself, and the other found its way between his legs to stroke his hardening member. After the first few times they had seen each other, Daichi learned that there was no shame when it came to Kuroo. In fact, Kuroo enjoyed watching people pleasure themselves as he whispered darkly into his ear one time, causing him to prematurely ejaculate.

"Damn Sawamura," he said, pulling out with a satisfying pop. "I love seeing your eyes glaze over."

"And I love wiping that stupid grin off of your face," he challenged back.

"For that, I'll have to punish you," Kuroo said, climbing onto his lap and then kissing him hard. Kuroo gripped his head tightly, massing his scalp and keeping him from escaping. It was dizzying to be kissing so breathlessly and fiercely, tongues battling for dominance. Daichi feebly pressed his palms against Kuroo's chest, head spinning from the lack of oxygen and the scent of alcohol.

"Mmm… on your knees, Sawamura," Kuroo commanded softly. "I'll get you all stretched out and then I'm going to pound you like there's no tomorrow."

"At least use some technique!" he gritted through his teeth and Kuroo nipped him playfully on the shoulder. It was an empty threat - Daichi knew full well how much technique Kuroo possessed and could reduce him to a completely trembling mess in minutes if he needed to.

Kuroo clambered off of him, laughing loudly as he made his way to the bedroom. Daichi waited impatiently, keeping his desire fueled by stroking himself with a fairly tight grip. He felt sweaty and hot and was thankful that Kuroo preferred to keep his apartment on the cool side.

"I'm back and you didn't even listen to me," Kuroo pouted jokingly, shaking the bottle of lube at him. "Do you want me to prepare you with you facing me?"

"You know, I do," he said, spreading his legs and leaning back against the couch. "I wouldn't mind kissing some more."

"Yeah. Me neither."

Kuroo positioned himself so that he could kiss him and then he started to slowly and sensually press his lips against him, parting them slightly and sighing. Daichi felt as though his heart was beating too quickly for the slow burn of Kuroo seductively holding back and making him chase after his lips for another kiss, lips curling in amusement as he continually missed his target.

He felt a slick finger press against his entrance before sliding in him, causing a moan to spill out of his mouth. Two fingers followed immediately, and before Daichi could protest that it was painful, they curled up and brushed his prostate. His loud gasp and sudden flex of fingers on Kuroo's neck was enough for Kuroo's mischievous grin to reappear. He felt a burning desire to smack him, but an even fiercer desire for him to keep touching him.

"Oh man, if you come before I fuck you," he said, squeezing Daichi's left earlobe between his lips. "I might have to pound you in the mouth."

Daichi did not mind giving him head, he rather enjoyed it, but only if he was in control. He was afraid that he would start choking and gagging if Kuroo was feeling aggressive. However, it was becoming increasingly hard to keep the build-up of pleasure from flooding out - especially with how Kuroo was stretching his muscle walls and hitting all of the right spots.

"Mmm… you're so good with your mouth," Kuroo commented as Daichi kissed him heartily, trying to distract himself from coming too early. "You ready there?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, on your knees. Let me see that fine sturdy ass and those muscular thighs of yours. They are like the thighs of gods, and I'm the lucky man who gets to touch them."

Daichi didn't bother to say anything back in embarrassment as he situated himself on the couch. The leather that he had not touched yet was refreshingly cool, but the part he had been sitting on was wet with perspiration. He waited, vulnerable and bare and a bit nervous for being done from the back instead of their usual missionary position.

"Next time you're going to want me to ride you," he asked dryly and Kuroo chuckled guiltily. "No thanks."

"Yeah, I can't imagine you doing that at all to be honest. But maybe if you're drunk enough?"

"Hell no, but I'm going to want another beer after this. My second one is still on the table and probably warm."

"Oh yeah, I'll get you another one," Kuroo said excitedly. Daichi felt the cushion behind him sink and Kuroo situate his erection to enter him.

Daichi braced himself as his tightness incased Kuroo immediately. The pain was much sharper than the last few times, but it felt incredible to have Kuroo so deep inside of him, thrusting with constantly changing velocity as he tried to keep his sweaty palms from sliding on the leather seat.

"Aahhh… ohhh..!" Daichi gasped, squeezing his eyes shut when Kuroo slammed against a sensitive spot. Slender fingers found there way onto Daichi's abdomens and held him as he was thrusted into, thighs slapping noisily against his ass, and slick wet sounds pushing him closer and closer to the edge.

"Damn… so close," he moaned, trying to hold back an extremely throaty sound that threatened to escape. His erection ached from neglect, adding more fuel to the flames of feverish passion.

"How close are you?"

"Ahh… ahhh… Kuroo, don't stop."

"Want me to play with what's between your legs?"

Daichi didn't get to respond before Kuroo's hand started to stroke him rapidly, spreading the semen that had been leaking out of his tip around. White hot heat raged through his entire length and also through the muscles that Kuroo was mercilessly stretching.

"Uhhh… I'm close too, Sawamura."

"Finally," Daichi said, equal parts sarcastically and breathlessly.

Kuroo stopped all motion and Daichi's mind went reeling out of shock.

"You want me to be romantic or would you not like that?"

"I like romance a lot, thank you very much," he said, hungrily craving friction from something, anything. "But it would be kind of weird coming from you 'cause we are just having a fling."

"And because you like the bad boy side of me in particular."

"You did force yourself onto me the first time we met."

"Oh, but you wanted me after a minute of passionate kissing. Otherwise you would have not came to my hotel room."

"Will you stop talking and finish?!"

"Tsk, tsk, Sawamura. I want your body screaming from wanting to release."

Daichi turned around and shot him a glare - his elbows and knees were starting to get uncomfortable from being on them for so long, but he didn't want Kuroo to think that he could have all of the control.

"Hmm, as you wish, Captain Sawamura," Kuroo said with a sly leer and a dangerous glint in his cat-like pupils.

"Fuck!" he whined as Kuroo bucked so hard and fast into him that stars burst before his eyes and the air felt too thick and heavy to breathe in. Kuroo was panting audibly now, not letting up on speed, and he came first, burning hot into Daichi with an immensely satisfied groan. He could feel Kuroo's orgasm shudder through his body and he was ready to climax any second.

"Ah, no, not on the couch!" Kuroo said, hastily pulling his softening member out and aggressively flipping Daichi over.

"Umph!"

"Sorry!" he said as Daichi's head came crashing down onto the leather. It didn't hurt, but it was startling to have been rotated 180 degrees without warning.

"Kuroo…"

"Shh, I got you," he said, already over what happened and taking a hold of something considerably more pressing. He thumbed a sensitive spot just below the head, caressed the large vein running under his length, and somehow with this absurd amount of flexibility, he leaned down and engulfed the tip, sucking and looking at Daichi with sinfully wanton eyes.

He came hard, all over his stomach since Kuroo released him and pointed his dick upwards. Streams of translucent white shot out, decorating his body with evidence of a wild orgasm. He groaned as his high spiked explosively before relaxing into a content smile and waiting for his vision to come back to him.

"Whew, just in time," Kuroo said, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. "I don't know why I didn't think about turning you over earlier."

"It's not like there isn't already a sweaty mess on the couch," he said sardonically, watching Kuroo climb off of him and feeling too much like a puddle to sit up.

"I'll clean it in the morning," he said, holding out a hand to help Daichi up and he took it gingerly. "Ready for a beer?"

"Yea, and then some sleep."

"You're always welcome in my bed," he said, tugging him along to the kitchen once he was up. "Clean your mess off your chest first though. I don't want to do laundry…"

Daichi yanked on his hand, causing him to stumble and then he swung him hard into a wall. He hissed loudly and then Daichi captured his lips in a domineering kiss, placing his hands on either side of him.

"Why don't you lick it off of me?"

"Oh ho ho, Sawamura," he said, not scared by Daichi's serious mode, but rather excited by it. He kissed him back, making sure to rub his body against Daichi's sexily. "Okay, now some is on me. Beer, a quick shower, and sleep, and then some more fun in the morning?"

"I like this idea," he said, straightening up and resuming their mission to get to the kitchen. "You're right. I really needed this, Kuroo."

"Yeah. Glad I wanted you too."

Daichi opened the refrigerator door and immediately regretted it when chilly air struck his bare body. Kuroo chuckled and pushed him aside, calling him a wimp. A can was handed to him and he took it gratefully, opening it and taking down a quarter of it in one go. It wasn't enough to even make him tipsy, and he really didn't need to let his guard down with Kuroo around.

"Damn, that's really good," he said, watching Kuroo drink his beer and rolling his eyes when Kuroo kept going. "You are going to have a headache if you keep that up."

"Nah, I'll be fine," he said, taking Daichi's hand again and sauntering towards the bathroom. "And besides, it will help dull the feeling of betrayal if I hear you having a wet dream about this lovely Creative Writing crush of yours whose hair is exceptionally radiant in the sunlight."

"Kuroo, I'm going to kill you…" he said venomously, struggling to keep thoughts of Suga splayed on a bed, raw and begging for Daichi's touch, from filling his mind. He hadn't had sexual fantasies of Suga until then - just romantic scenarios of time spent playing volleyball or drinking together, and he wholeheartedly blamed Kuroo's influence for bring out his adult desires.

"Remember. Broom closet romp. It gets your heart palpitating, thinking you're going to get caught at any minute, but it makes you more alert and attentive to getting things done quickly."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Staff Karaoke Night. Uta no Prince-sama references.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English song translations from Moonlit Sanctuary (silvermoon249 @ LJ)
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who left kudos/comments! It means a lot to me as an author to feel that people are enjoying the story, but also to be able to respond back too. I'll keep working hard!
> 
> This part is rated G (just alcohol consumption).

"Thank you for driving me."

"Yeah. It's never a problem," Daichi said, opening the passenger door for Suga and standing back so that he could climb in. It was a bit on a whim and probably strange to do for a friend, but seeing Suga smile appreciatively was worth it.

He had cleaned his car the day prior - being busy meant that papers, gym clothes, and volleyballs had accumulated on the black leather seats of his sporty orange SUV, and he didn't want Suga to see his mess. It was too early on in the school year for Suga to assume that he was overburdened and needed to take care of himself better even if it was a true fact.

"Karaoke will be fun," Suga said once Daichi got settled in the driver's seat and started the engine. "Are you going to sing?"

"Somebody's going to force me. I am going to need a few drinks to dull the embarrassment."

"I'll buy you a round."

"Suga, you don't have…" Daichi was immediately 'shooshed' and a finger jabbed him in the forehead. "Hey!"

"Negativity begone!" he exclaimed like he was a wizard casting a spell on him. His eyebrows were scrunched together and the fierceness of his adamant look was all too funny to Daichi, who started laughing.

"Fine. But you better sing too."

"I will. Just trying to decide on what song…"

Daichi smiled at him before turning away to focus on getting the car out of the parking lot. He wanted to give Suga some peace so that he could figure things out, and once they were on the road, he occupied himself with people watching and observing the architecture of tall city buildings. The city was busy and there was plenty to do, but not to the point of frustrating traffic jams and people always on the go to their next destination.

Suga had his iPod out, scrolling through a playlist of songs and humming gently to the music playing through his headphones. Daichi had his right hand on the steering wheel and the other arm on the armrest, drumming his own rhythm with his fingers. He kept sneaking glances at Suga, who looked very endearing while he was absorbed in his music, and he felt his stomach do a small, happy turn each time he looked at Suga.

"What are you listening to?" he asked when he reached a red light and Suga stopped humming.

"Music."

"I want to hear."

Suga looked at him like it was the most incredulous idea and Daichi didn't bother to insist verbally. Instead, he reached over and seized his iPod successfully, clamping his fingers onto the device. Suga immediately latched onto his arm, trying to pull his fingers off but to no avail.

"Daichi!" he whined, still holding onto him as Daichi flicked through the playlist for a song he might like. "That's not nice! Personal property invasion!"

' _Gosh, he's endearing when he pouts too,'_ he thought, pressing play on a song and quickly maneuvering through menus to sync it to his bluetooth radio.

The light turned to green and Daichi finished in the nick of time, grinning as an electric guitar started playing. Suga still had his arm pinned to his chest tightly and Daichi suddenly became aware that Suga was indeed touching him and that he really, really liked it.

"This song is fun," he said warmly, turning to smile at him. "J-rock, huh? It has an uplifting feel. Seems to have a nice message too."

"It's called 'Can Do'," he said, surrendering Daichi's arm. "GRANRODEO is the band."

"Yeah, I've heard of them," Daichi said, holding the iPod out. "Why were you so embarrassed to let me listen?"

"I didn't want you to think my taste in music was terrible…"

"Can't be any worse than your taste in spicy food," he teased dryly as Suga took his music player back. "Come on, I want to get to know you, and that includes your musical tastes."

"Spicy food is delicious and it's not my fault you have no stomach for it!" he insisted crossly, smacking him in the shoulder. "Daichi, you're so mean!"

He smirked and remained silent to listen to the rocking guitar rifts and the driving drum set part. Daichi made a mental note to check out some more of their music and to drop the hint that he didn't want to listen to their music alone.

"Suga, it makes me happy how comfortable you have gotten with me."

' _There, I said it,'_ Daichi thought as he looked over to see Suga's reaction, which was a vibrant rose flush that bloomed on his cheeks. He wanted to stare forever at how his eyes sparkled from his compliment and how adorable he was trying to hide his reaction. He could feel the heat emanating from his body and was pleased that he was the one who elicited such a response from Suga.

"Eyes on the road, Daichi!"

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, quickly swerving with both hands to avoid hitting a fire hydrant and grimacing at the squeal of his tires. "Haha, sorry Suga. I'm not a bad driver, I swear."

"No, you're not," he said, laughing once he took a few calming breaths and they were properly in their lane. "You are very honest though."

"I get that a lot."

Suga settled back against his seat and stretched his arms gingerly. The next song was something completely different - slower with a more classical instrumental intro, and Daichi wondered how many more songs he had from that anime show and how much he liked watching it.

"Oh, I recognize this one. Yume Oibito e no Symphony, right?"

"You know this song?" Suga asked in surprise.

"Uhhh… I downloaded a bunch of songs from the show because Kuroo, Bokuto, Oikawa, and I got drunk one night and ended up trying to learn some of those idol songs," he admitted with a lofty laugh. "I do really like the music though I'll have to admit. And this song a lot too. Maybe it's a bit of a guilty pleasure to listen to stuff like this."

"Did you do the dance moves and everything?" Suga asked slyly, but interestedly.

"No comment," Daichi said, painfully recalling that not only did they watch the group songs many times to learn the words and movements, but ended up ransacking Kuroo's closet for clothes to dress up in, and they were assigned characters to pretend they were.

"Story for next time," Suga said and Daichi felt himself go hot in the face from the combination of embarrassment and the prospect of spending more time with him. He supposed it was fair that he would be forced to share the story - he did steal that iPod earlier.

They arrived at the establishment and Daichi managed to land an empty parking spot within a reasonable walking distance. Suga seemed excited for an evening of food and karaoke, and all Daichi could think about was making sure that they were going to sit next to each other on the couch without raising any questions.

' _I'm so pathetic,'_ he thought to himself as he led the way in, shoulders uncharacteristically slumped forward. ' _I just want to ask him out, but I am afraid to. I don't want to push something when he just got a job at this school. And when I'm too busy to fully commit either.'_  

"If you think too hard, you'll develop early wrinkles," he joked, pushing past him to get the door first. "After you, old man." Daichi felt a smile tug at his lips from Suga's quirky humor and straightened up as he entered the building.

The hostess greeted them and Daichi acknowledged her back before heading to the room they rented each month. It was a nice place with a sleek modern look, well-maintained facilities, and reasonably priced food and drinks. There was a bar in the lobby with quite a few people sitting there on stools, chatting amiably or watching television. When they got to their destination down the hall, a multitude of teachers greeted him from their various locations in the room.

"Oh, this is nice," Suga commented, checking out the large flatscreen in the front of the room that was flickering through menus of songs and the collection of couches that were nearby. "I don't recognize most of these people though."

"Our school is large, but these guys are really friendly," he assured. "Do you want me to introduce you?"

"Uh sure, if you don't mind."

"Sawamura!"

"Well, that one is Michimiya."

"The English teacher you've known since middle school?"

"Yes, that's right," Daichi said, waving at her. She handed him a pint of beer with a huge grin when she reached him. "Oh, thank you, Michimiya."

"Been wondering when you'd get here. You never go to these things much."

"You know me - always stuck at school."

"You're impossible," she said, peering over at Suga and then realizing exactly who he was. "Nice to meet you, Sugawara-san!"

"Nice to meet you as well. Sorry we haven't met earlier despite teaching similar subjects."

"It's alright - we're all busy. I've heard a lot about you. Sawamura here hasn't made any new friends in a while, and he really likes you."

Daichi tried to give her a discreet glance of warning. He worried that she was going to tell Suga entirely too much about how Daichi felt about him, and he had no idea how he would respond to any questions Suga would have for him.

"He speaks highly of you too," Suga said with a bright smile, seeming to not have noticed Daichi's look.

"Well he should after all that I have done for him," she said, punching him hard in the shoulder and causing him to flinch with an annoyed 'ow'. "He's a dork. Don't let his stocky figure and serious face trick you."

"Michimiya…"

"Go on and say hi to the others," she encouraged, taking a sip of her own beer and shoving Daichi in the direction of a group of science teachers. "See you in a bit."

They parted ways and Daichi was ever so glad that she did not reveal any more. He had caught her significant glance in return and knew that she wanted to talk later. He mulled over the thought of finding a friend who was a good secret keeper and wasn't meddlesome and realized that he rarely attracted those kinds of people.

Everyone was friendly and in good spirits, some more than others already, and they had a nice time meeting everybody. Suga had that ability to make people feel comfortable with him and so they ended up getting separated after a while, leaving Daichi to order food and Suga to get to know some new people.

He sat down on one of the couches, already through his first drink, and grabbed the book of songs to browse through options. The middle school geography teacher was on his other side jotting down his selection in the notebook and chatted with him for a bit. After a stretch of Daichi attempting to make a decision on his imminent doom, Michimiya slid into the seat next to him, smiling cheerfully.

"Already partway through your second?" she noted with shifty eyes at him.

"I have to sing."

"You sing just fine. Only this time, it's in front of _him,_ " she said, indicating Suga who was laughing with a group of math teachers. "Looks like someone bought him a drink."

"It wasn't me," he said, looking to see what it was. "I got him a hard cider to go with his food. That's a strawberry daiquiri - it was nice that someone wanted to buy him a drink."

"He sure is friendly."

"You are too."

"You don't have a crush on me, but you do…" The rest of her words were muffled when Daichi quickly covered her mouth with his hand.

"Michimiya!" he hissed, checking immediately to see if Suga had turned their way, but thankfully he was still engrossed in his conversation. She flailed her hands at him and he released her.

"You _do_ like him."

"Not like that."

"Please, stop denying it. The way you were talking about him the other day when we had lunch. The way you look at him and act around him." She spoke like she was an expert on love and on sorting out complicated feelings, putting her hands on her hips and sitting up taller. "I wouldn't be surprised if something stirred in your pants because of him. I'm so happy you won't be so lonely anymore…"

If there was a time that Daichi was ready to sink into a hole and never come out again, it was definitely at that moment. Thoughts and feelings of 'what ifs' regarding Suga swirled, knotted, and twisted all at the same time within his chest and he heaved a loud sigh, resigning to many kinds of exhaustion. Michimiya laughed and patted him on the back - she meant completely well and she really cared about him.

"Michimiya, you…"

"It's perfectly normal to have a crush and also to be a grown adult man with desires. Unlike a growing teenage boy, you can keep yourself in check. Well, you know better and should keep your impulsive desires under control."

Daichi finally laughed, causing Michimiya to beam brightly at him. He took another long draught of his drink after clinking glasses with her, and the sensation of feeling good was starting to take over. He unbuttoned a couple buttons of his shirt to let off some heat, thankful he left his tie in the car, and smiled.

"I'm back, Daichi," Suga announced and Daichi turned to see Suga standing next to him with two plates of piping hot food. "These burgers smell great!"

"Thanks for getting the food," he said, sliding over towards the middle school teacher to create some room after asking respectfully if he could.

"Sawamura, I'm going to chat with some of my girlfriends. They just showed up," Michimiya said cheerfully, greeting them with an enthusiastic wave. "And just go for it. What do you have to lose?"

Before he could respond, she vacated her seat and smiled extremely merrily at Suga, who sat down with a humbled yet mildly confused expression.

"What was that about?"

"It's nothing, Suga. Michimiya was just giving me advice."

"She is as spunky as you described her, but lovable," he said before digging into his food. "Mmmm so good! I'm glad I took off my tie before we left school - I might have accidentally dipped it in ketchup or something… that would be completely embarrassing…"

Daichi grinned and picked up his burger to take a bite out of it. The meat was juicy and savory and his teeth sank in again without any hesitation. It wasn't going to take him long to polish off that burger and the fries were just as good too, seasoned with olive oil and rosemary.

"Pardon me, Sugawara-san, was it? Can I have a seat next to you?"

"Absolutely, let me move over to give you some space."

Suga was practically touching him to make enough room and Daichi felt his heart rate start speeding up. He could feel the heat emanating from Suga, adding to the small fire that was starting to burn in the pit of his stomach. He swallowed painfully loudly.

' _Maybe I could casually put my arm on the back of the couch?'_ he thought. ' _Casually like in a romantic movie. He won't think anything of it, right? Unlike wanting to hold his hand in the car…'_

"Here are your drinks," a worker announced, appearing in front of them, holding a tray out. "One Strongbow and one Flightless Crow."

"Now that's some irony right there," Suga commented with a chuckle. Daichi laughed in response and handed Suga his hard cider and then accepted his stout beer. He hadn't tried it before, but Kuroo and a few other teachers had recommended it to him.

"Cheers Suga!" he said, raising his glass.

"Cheers Daichi!" he said, clinking his glass his glass against Daichi's. The coolness of his new glass felt relieving on his fingers and having another drink hopefully would relax him a bit. The stout was one of the better stouts that he had ever had, and money well spent also made Daichi feel good.

The notebook was passed around for people to write their selections down, and Sawamura felt as though he was spelling his downfall with each letter that he wrote. By this point, he was moderately tipsy and certain things seemed more amusing than normal, and especially how self-conscious he felt sitting against Suga and occasionally bumping his leg against his.

The karaoke part of the get-together kicked off with the band club advisor and some of his buddies like it did the last time he went to an outing, and their performance was impressive with their rehearsed choreography. Setting the bar that high meant that everyone else didn't feel too bad about being a decent singer or being drunk. As Nishinoya liked to remind him when they went together, it was about having a good time and not always having to win.

The lights were turned down on a lower setting, making the flashing lights more intense, and the bass was causing the room to vibrate. Daichi was definitely impressed with the speakers, but even more so with Suga's content smile and knowledge of every song that was chosen, eyes sparkling as he mouthed the words along with the music and tapped his foot in time.

"Sawamura-san, you're up!" the MC said, holding out a microphone after eight or so songs. "Kill it, man."

' _I think I might end up killing some people by accident,'_ he thought cynically to himself as he slowly stood up, wishing that he was still safely on the couch next to Suga. He felt as though his legs were made of lead as he walked up to the front next to the television, and he thanked the gods the lights were low to hide just how intense his blush was. It wouldn't have surprised him if the microphone picked up how hard his heart was beating.

' _Calm down Daichi. You've been in situations much worse than this before.'_

Michimiya gave him a giant thumbs-up and several of the female teachers cat-called and whistled at him, some with their phones out to record. Suga watched on amusedly, finishing the last of his cider and then mouthing 'You can do this'.

' _No pressure, right?'_ he thought as he cleared his throat. ' _You have female teachers who are attracted to you and a supportive set of friends. Just stay calm, Sawamura. Don't make too much of a fool of yourself.'_

"Sawamura-san, look here and smile!" an elementary teacher said, holding up her camera. "What a handsome man! Yui, you're so lucky you're old friends with him!"

Daichi couldn't help but scratch the back of his neck with a shyly humbled expression just as the opening piano part started playing. Suga's eyes widened immediately, recognizing the song that Daichi had chosen, and there was definitely no way to turn back now for Daichi.

His speaking voice was deep and broad, but for some reason he could never really quite figure out, his singing voice was in the tenor range and much more mellow. He liked the sound of his voice though and he did his best to stay on pitch and support his sound, ignoring the frantic thumping of his heart against his ribcage. He was angled so that he could read the lyrics on the screen because he didn't have it entirely memorized, but could also see Suga and his reactions without making it obvious that he was checking him out.

 

_Like the thawing snow, the glimmer of the future shines bright._

_This dream is always knocking on the mind._

 

Suga was humming along, smiling and not taking his eyes off of Daichi. He seemed fixated, perhaps in awe too, but Daichi had no idea what was moving Suga. All that matter was that he wasn't cringing from listening to him.

 

_No matter when, I don't want to forget it._

_That smile is my sun._

_Because the flood of love won't stop._

_I'm being filled with these feelings._

_I want you to let me stay by your side._

_Let's share what we "believe"…_

 

He moved the microphone a little further away so that he could sing more loudly and boldly now that he was more comfortable. The song moved at a moderate speed and it wasn't a crowd favorite or a show-off song, but it was simple and beautiful and most importantly, the message was for Suga. Daichi was quite capable of being romantically sappy, which sometimes made him feel like a silly, embarrassed idiot.

The song ended and the room burst into applause as Daichi took a grateful bow. He handed the microphone to the MC and apologized for the large amount of sweat he left on it. Daichi felt considerably relieved that his one required song was over and made his way back to the couch, sinking down into the cushion immediately.

"You have a really nice voice, Daichi," Suga said and Daichi gave him a skeptical look. "No, you really do. Ask anyone who just listened to you."

"Haha, well, it's not bad. I don't know, I guess having all of that attention on me and doing something that is out of my comfort zone…" He paused in his sentence to receive some high fives from teachers passing by and thanked them for their compliments. "Okay, so I don't give myself enough credit."

"You are a dork," Suga teased, stirring the ice in his water with his straw before taking a sip. "I love that song. It was a suiting choice for you to sing. Now you can sing it in the car for me again sometime."

' _If only you knew that it was for you, Suga,'_ he thought as his chest swelled with pride, knowing that he just made Suga's night that much better.

"And up next is Sugawara-san, one of the new teachers," the MC announced enthusiastically. "Everyone, please give him a nice welcome!"

Suga stood up, trembling slightly as he walked to the front of the room. He accepted the microphone and applause respectfully and then waited for his song to start playing, rocking on his heels a few times. A string ensemble started playing something gentle and warm, and Daichi learned forward in eagerness, not recognizing the song and dying to hear how Suga's singing voice sounded.

Daichi was starstruck by how wonderful Suga's voice was from the very first line - the way he moved from note to note was effortless and his choice in a gentle, heartwarming song showcased him well. Suga knew all of the words without having to look at them, so he was able to connect with the crowd by engaging them with his eyes and hand motions.

 

_Brand new breeze… (When you whisper to me)_

_I've never felt anything like it, this feeling._

_Just for you… (I'm singing just for you)_

_So that I'll never lose you._

 

Michimiya appeared behind him with a few of her girlfriends and he turned so that he could see her. She hooked him around the neck with her arm, leaned in and whispered "You two are practically married. That song is for you, Daichi." He brushed it off saying that it wasn't good to assume things based on their lyrics, but she just laughed and said that Daichi was both too obvious and oblivious and needed to trust his instincts as much as he did in volleyball.

 

_In happy times and in sad times, we'll continue to fly without losing our way._

_I want you to hold me close and catch me, and show me your smile…_

 

The words were hitting extremely close to home and his heart felt heavy, knowing that he wanted to be that person for Suga but it wasn't time yet. It was really no one's fault but his own that things were going to continue on the friendship route, but there was hope that becoming friends first meant that they had a better chance of lasting. It was odd of him to be afraid of failure when he was able to pick himself back up every time he fell in other situations.

"Oh wow, he sang a song from a female singer so well!" one of Michimiya's friends said, visibly swooning. "It's not that he's singing as high as her, but his tone is so pure."

"I wonder how he would sound singing pop?" asked another and then they started animatedly chatting about various genres he might sound good in and Daichi couldn't help but smile that Suga gained some fans.

Applause filled the room, and Daichi joined in with some mighty claps of his own, and it wasn't long before Suga was back with him, cheeks flushed pink and a happy smile. Daichi took the opportunity to put an arm around his shoulders and pull him close for a few seconds, congratulating him on a job well done.

"You're just full of surprises, Suga."

"My voice isn't that impressive."

"It is. You're gifted in that area and there's something to be said about being able to connect with people too," Daichi said, releasing him while wishing that he didn't have to let him go. "I was blown away by you singing that song."

"So you're a sweet dork," Suga said, draining the rest of his water with a satisfied expression. "I ordered you a drink as promised for when we both finished singing. Hope you like it."

Right on cue, the worker came by and set down a glass of caramel colored liquid and a cup of coffee with cream and sugar on the table in front of them. A cup of tea was placed next to it - some kind of green tea with a soothing aroma.

"You got me liquor?" Daichi asked in astonishment, picking it up and smelling wonderful notes of chocolate, caramel, and spices. "This is expensive, Suga. And if I drink this, I'm not going to be able to drive for a while."

"I went out into the lobby earlier and asked the bartender for a recommendation. He said that this cognac goes really well in hot coffee," Suga revealed. "It's my treat so enjoy it."

"If you went through all of that trouble…" he started, feeling over the moon that Suga took the initiative to surprise him. He took a small sip and it was sweet and full-bodied, and it burned when he swallowed in a surprisingly good way. "Wow, amazing. Putting this in coffee is going to be great… the kind of drink you can just sip and enjoy… and have entirely too much of without knowing you did."

"And I do have a license so I can drive us home without a problem if you don't want to stay too late."

"I'm glad because I think I am going to be drunk after this one."

They sat a while and drank, listening to others sing their karaoke songs and laughing along when appropriate. It was fun to see people jamming out to their favorite tunes, dramatizing certain songs, working the crowd to sing along with them, and stumbling over trickier passages. Daichi felt entirely too good after he finished his amazing drink a little too quickly, but it was fine with Suga there to poke fun and tell entertaining stories. His cheeks were starting hurt a little because of the giant, cheesy grin that he couldn't help but have the entire time.

"Yo-ho! Refreshing-san!" a voice called out and Daichi recognized it immediately, but was absolutely confused as to why he was there in their karaoke room.

"Oikawa, is that a new name for me?" Daichi asked skeptically, turning around to the source of the voice - a man who was giving him a disturbingly cheery peace sign. He was a teacher at another school who taught English and coached his volleyball team, and they had met when their teams played each other. It turned out that Oikawa also knew Kuroo and Bokuto and they all ended up hanging out a few times. Daichi respected his skill greatly as a player and coach, but his personality was often too bright and playful for his temperament to handle.

"No, it's not for you," he chided, pointing at Suga. "He is Refreshing-san. You're Sawa-chan."

"Wait, when did you guys meet?" he asked, grimacing at the sound of -chan at the end of his name.

"Umm, out in the lobby," Suga said, blushing slightly because of his new nickname. "When I was ordering your drink, I heard someone say his name and recognized it from when you were talking about drunk singing with your group of friends. We talked for a little bit and it was nice to find out he's a volleyball setter too. He's friends with the owner - that's why he's here."

"I like Refreshing-san. He's really easy to talk to, and there's quite a lot to him," Oikawa said, coming up to their couch and then learning over to rest his elbows on it. "So, Sawa-chan, are you having a good time?"

"Yeah, I am," he said, trying to focus on Oikawa and realizing that his face was swimming in and out of focus slightly . It was a good thing he was feeling sluggish because he had half an urge to punch him out of annoyance.

"It's about to get more fun! It will be the highlight of tonight!"

"… Huh?"

Before he explained anything, Daichi felt the pit of his stomach stir dangerously in that way that meant something bad was coming. Suga gave him an apologetic look, but before he could inquire, the MC's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Now here's a good song choice and a group song to boot! Poison Kiss by Quartet Night sung by a guest, Oikawa Tooru-san, and our own Sugawara-san, Michimiya-san, and Sawamura-san!" the MC announced and Daichi could have sworn the room exploded with cheers and excited gossiping.

"Wait, what?" Daichi asked, completely stunned. They were most likely cheering in excitement for a group song with some of their favorite teachers, but he also wondered how many people actually watched the show and knew the music.

"Daichi, I'm so sorry!" Suga apologized quickly. "Oikawa-san said he wanted to sing something, and then Michimiya-san was coming through the lobby from the bathroom, so we decided to choose this song, but then we needed a fourth person…" Suga was frantically explaining the situation, and as startled as Daichi was, he found that he couldn't be mad at Suga. Oikawa, on the other hand, was free game the next time their paths crossed.

"So you didn't tell me because you didn't want me to back out," Daichi said with a sigh as he stood up. "Suga, you can be so crafty sometimes."

"You'll do it then?" he asked with hope shining in his eyes.

"Can't wimp out now since it's been announced."

"That's the spirit, Sawa-chan!" Oikawa said, running around the couch and patting him heartily on the back. "Let's go, Refreshing-san!"

Michimiya was already in the front of the room with a blindingly bright smile, holding out a second microphone. Oikawa had to stop a few times for pictures from female teachers who were completely obsessed with how gorgeous he looked in a halfway buttoned up shirt and pants that gave him a slimming look. Daichi found that he was stumbling slightly, struggling to keep the floor level in his head, but was otherwise fine. However, he felt an arm go around his back and then his world spun extra fast.

"I know you're fine, but I wanted to help anyways," Suga said warmly. "Thank you for saying yes to this. I'm sure you know you'll be on the lowest part, which is perfect since you have a wide singing range."

"It's no problem," he said, leaning onto Suga. "Just as long as I don't have to dance," he added dryly and Suga chuckled softly.

"I hope to be able to do this again," he said happily. "This night has been just great. You're great too. I'm glad that you were the first person I met at Karasuno. Haha, just wanted to let you know…"

Daichi was in disbelief and he wasn't sure if the alcohol was making things up or if Suga actually said something vulnerably revealing - a key insight to Suga's hidden thoughts. A stirring song played within him, tugging on his heartstrings in the best of ways, and it was all because of the wonderful man that had his arm wrapped around him. Daichi lost count of how many times that night that he wished that he could touch him and the number of times he wished that they didn't have to let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs referenced:  
> CAN DO by GRANRODEO (Kuroko no Basuke OP 1)  
> Yume Oibito e no Symphony by STARISH (Utapri S2 2nd Group Song)  
> Knocking on the Mind by Suzumura Kenichi (Utapri S1 Character song)  
> Brand New Breeze by Kanon (La Corda OP)  
> Poison Kiss by Quartet Night (Utapri S2 Group Song)
> 
> Daichi's singing voice is based off of his seiyuu, Hino Satoshi, who has just this incredibly large speaking/singing range. Seriously - compare a song from La Corda 3's Reiji against La Corda 2's Etou.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Late Night Grading and Text Messaging.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been quite a while, but Band Festival season (January to mid-March) is just so busy and hectic that it's been hard to find time to proofread and edit my writing. My apologies for the delay in an update - I always want to do my best and make sure it's just right before I post it.
> 
> Thank you for all of the kudos/comments/love for this story! I am greatly humbled by all of the support. Please feel free to share any thoughts with me always.
> 
> This part rated G (except for the last four paragraphs. T for non-explicit adult content).

"You have five minutes left of silent reading before discussion with a partner," Daichi announced from his position in front of the room. "I will be writing down topics you will need to know for your upcoming exam."

He turned towards the chalkboard and rolled up his sleeves so that they were just past his elbows, exposing his forearms to cooler air. Daichi did not feel too well - a combination of extra long volleyball practices, adjusting lesson plans to adequately cover the course material in enough time, and grading the large amount of homework he tended to assign. He felt hot and faint, but had to will himself to get through the day. Daichi heard some of the students who had not mastered the art of whispering yet mention that he was extra serious today and seemed unusually grouchy.

Daichi frowned slightly as he started writing, the chalk making soft scraping and tapping noises while the students proceeded on reading in silence. As he listed history topics, he suddenly felt that the upcoming days were going to be daunting - testing his patience, draining what little energy he had left, and how he would struggle to give off the appearance of being completely put together. However tough the obstacles though, Daichi had always found a way to endure and persevere before as a student and now as an adult.

' _A captain through and through,'_ he thought to himself, stepping away and checking to make sure his writing was straight and legible. ' _No matter what, we have to be strong for others and not show signs of wanting to give up.'_

He heard some of his students start talking and chairs being shuffled around so that they could face each other. They were politely quiet and productive, and Daichi was able to mentally relax for a while once he was done writing, checking in with each pair and answering questions that they had. When the bell rang, almost all of his students were ready to go with their books in their arms or bags, flying out the door to rush towards lunch.

"Sawamura-sensei!" his volleyball captain called out. "I have a few ideas for line-ups in our upcoming match." He hurried to where Daichi was standing by his desk with a notebook and a magnetic whiteboard with circular metal markers on it.

"Ah, thank you. I will look over these during lunch."

"The one on the board is what I feel will be best to start with. The notebook has more ideas for a starting line-ups and plays, and also data on each of the players on the opposing team - strengths, weaknesses, tendencies…"

Daichi smiled - his team captain had really hit his stride this year and was passionate and dependable among other wonderful qualities. The keen and observant vice captain was his best friend, and he had an incredible ability to draw out peoples' potential. The team had been having solid practices despite the amount of extra hours to prepare for the next tournament, and he had heard they trained by running a course through the park and then going to lift weights on weekends.

"Just be careful you don't spend all of your time watching past volleyball matches," he lectured sternly, taking the materials from him. "Your studies come first. And you need to take care of your health too if you want to be at your best," Daichi added, noticing that he looked like he hadn't slept much even though his eyes were alight with focus and anticipation.

"Yes, Sawamura-sensei," he said with a bow. "Please take care of yourself too. We need you on the court alongside us as well."

"I don't look that bad, right?"

"A captain understands the trials and tribulations of others, and especially other captains," he said with a knowing smile. "You have taught me a great deal not only about history, but also about what it means to be a leader and how to manage a team."

"I'm glad I have had this impact. I'm very proud of you. Keep up the hard work."

"See you at practice, Sawamura-sensei!"

"Yes and I will be sure to look at these before then," he said, raising the pile of materials up.

"Oh, and is there any chance the third years can get an extension on the essay because of the upcoming away game?"

Daichi gave him a look that was an icy cold version of 'absolutely not!' and his captain surprisingly laughed jovially, thoroughly confusing Daichi.

"Darn. Sugawara-sensei thought that you might say yes."

"Wait, Sugawara-sensei what…?"

"Yeah, we have an essay due in his class on the same day," he said with a resigned shrug. "We thought that since he's so nice, he would move the essay for the class, but then he asked if you had that due date set since the beginning of the school year…"

"So he didn't budge because mine was a surprise essay that I announced last week?"

"No, he didn't move it in the end. He told us to try asking you, but everyone wimped out leaving me. He wanted to see if you would move yours if it was a suggestion from him."

Daichi laughed loudly, reaching behind his desk to pick up his messenger bag. It was amusing to him that Suga refused to change his deadline, but also felt that Daichi may have sympathy on his classes if he was involved. His captain laughed too - most likely out of relief that he didn't get scolded for suggesting such an incredulous idea.

"I needed that laugh," he said appreciatively. "Come on - you need to get to lunch and I need to get to my office."

"Yes, sir!"

"And please let Sugawara-sensei know that even he can't convince me not to be the toughest teacher in the school," he said with a small dismissive wave and his captain acknowledged him before taking off.

Daichi shook his head as a smile crept onto his face. Suga was such a joy in his life and he felt happy that they were going to have a way to learn about and mentally battle each other through their shared students. They already chatted enough about how much they enjoy having Suga as a teacher, and Daichi was curious how much Suga's overheard them complain about Daichi in his class.

* * *

There were times in the year when Daichi became entirely too acquainted with his office and he hated it. He could hear the hum of the computers and he could smell the particular mix of papers, books, and coffee each time he went to sleep. His hand ached from marking papers - some with so much red ink that it looked like his pen had exploded in the process. Daichi's back also hurt from being hunched over for hours, reading each essay carefully and constantly cross-checking references to make sure things were correct.

He wasn't the only one that had way too much on their plate - a lot of the club advisors seemed to be holed away, trying to stay above water and were rather out of it whenever Daichi needed to talk to them. Daichi had finally started to majorly unravel and it made him feel miserable knowing that he was not at all his usual composed self.

' _Ah well, this happens at quite a few points each year. What would make this time any different?'_ he thought to himself, glancing at Natsume's desk. Natsume had left about an hour prior, but his desk showed evidence of him still being behind - models of certain physics concepts covered the surface, report covers shined dimly in the fading sunlight, and empty energy bar wrappers were sandwiched between stacks of books. He said that he would be able to finish by the end of the next day, but Daichi did not have that option because of the away volleyball game.

He reached to grab his iPhone that was resting on the corner of his desk and woke it up to check the time. Daichi groaned loudly - he had at least an hour left of stuff to get done and it was well past the time he had wanted to stay until.

Deciding he definitely needed a break, Daichi started absentmindedly flicking through his phone, glossing over the day's news headlines before venturing into his messages. He had a couple from Michimiya saying that he needed to call her so that she knew he was alive, several from Kuroo with some rather suggestive photos, and an absolutely absurd amount from Bokuto who was bored at his staff meeting. Daichi decided he didn't have the mental capacity or desire to respond to any of them until he went home, but the moment he set his phone down, it glowed with an incoming message. He saw that it was from Suga and he scrambled to grab it, suddenly smiling.

 

Suga: _Hey, how are you?_

Daichi: _I'm doing alright in hell._

 

The snarky reply was sent before Daichi could stop himself, and he pressed his palm hard into his forehead, feeling horribly delirious and feverish.

 

Suga: _Are you STILL at school?!_

Daichi: _Unfortunately. I should be leaving in an hour if my brain can still be productive._

Suga: _Did you remember to eat?_

Daichi: _Gluttony's a sin._

Suga: _Daichi!_

 

He started laughing loudly, hearing the exact tone of Suga's voice in his head scolding him for not eating dinner, and seeing how cross his expression was for neglecting his health. Daichi had not met anyone who could make him feel guilty about his actions in the way that Suga could, but then again, Suga made him feel a plethora of emotions that he didn't know he could feel so intensely.

 

Daichi: _I will make sure to eat when I get home._

Suga: _If you were going to hell for a sin, it would most definitely be for pride. So you can and better eat!_

 

' _When it comes to you, lust might just win in the end,'_ he thought to himself, knowing that the long hours had gotten to him and that he felt strangely witty and slaphappy. ' _I don't know the number of times you have popped into my head since the day we met.'_

 

Daichi: _You're too nice to join me in hell. Besides, it's scorchingly hot here. There are much better places to be, and with better food too._

Suga: … _Omg, you've completely lost it._

Daichi: _Haha, I've got to get through this. I'll let you know when I get home._

Suga: _You're only allowed to eat something, brush your teeth, and then you go straight to bed._

Daichi: _Suga, you really are caretaker-like!_

Suga: _Daichi. >___< !_

 

He leaned back in his chair, still laughing and thoroughly enjoying imagining Suga's facial expressions and tone of voice. It made him happy that Suga worried about him so much - that he was that important in his life. He tried to ignore the very real fact that Suga always looked after his friends and focused on the hope that maybe Suga cared for him more than the others.

* * *

By the time Daichi parked his car in his usual parking space and clambered out unceremoniously, the elatedness from having had talked to Suga all but vanished, leaving him tired and beaten. A gentle honk sounded from his car indicating that all of the doors were locked as he set off for the door to his apartment building, hands shoved into his pockets.

' _And I still have that volleyball game tomorrow night,'_ he thought, accepting that the weekend was entirely too far away and that he had to really pace himself to make sure he didn't pass out from fatigue.

Pulling his keys out his coat pocket, he unlocked the door, wiggling them slightly to get them to cooperate and made his way down the wide, carpeted hall to his apartment. Switching keys with a soft jingle, he opened the door and said 'Tadaima' out of habit to no one.

Daichi wasn't sure if it was because he was so tired or if the absence of Suga's presence was much larger than he thought, but he suddenly felt lonelier than he had in his entire life. He had close friends, lovable teammates, a hardworking volleyball club team, and amiable co-workers, yet he found that his heart started to ache and that there was a void in his life that he didn't realize existed.

He sighed loudly, depositing his messenger bag by the door and trekking across the living room without bothering to turn the lights on. Daichi knew that he wasn't going to run into anything - his entire apartment was minimally decorated and was more geared towards comforting functionality. He appreciated having a spacious room for the low rent he paid, but tonight Daichi felt that it was depressingly empty despite having all of the furniture he needed.

Once in the kitchen, he opened the fridge and squinted when the bright white light met his eyes. He scrutinized his limited choices of a late night snack - the milk was most likely expired and there was a lack of fresh produce because he hadn't been able to go to the grocery store in ages, but there were a few eggs, a container of rice, and some potato korokke.

Leaving the door open, he went to grab a pan out of the dish rack and poured a bit of cooking oil in a nice spiral onto the surface as he reached to turn on the stove. Daichi pulled a solid navy apron over his clothes, fumbling with tying the strings slightly, before grabbing a couple of eggs from the fridge. The cracking noise of the shells was strangely satisfying, but the sizzling sounds of the eggs hitting the pan was almost music to his ears. He knew he was hungry, but as his mind continued to settle from the day's work, other distressing and forlorn thoughts started to present themselves and he had to tell himself to eat or risk a severe scolding from Suga.

 

Daichi: _Hey Suga. I'm home now. Here's proof that I am eating. Sleep well!_

 

He initially was going to take a picture of the eggs in the pan, but then felt that Suga would doubt the authenticity of the picture so he leaned into the camera's view and indicated the eggs with a cheesy expression. It was popular among the students to take pictures of themselves that way, but Daichi was not really into it and pointedly avoided judging the result before sending it.

It was a few minutes of nervously wondering how Suga was going to respond or if he was still awake before his phone vibrated on the counter. Taking a deep breath, he turned off the heat and immediately moved the eggs to a plate before checking his response.

 

Suga: _You DO look like you've been in hell! :( but haha, I like the picture! Drink some milk or orange juice too. Sweet dreams, Daichi. Thank you for letting me know you got home safely._

 

Daichi smiled, fondly re-reading the message a few times before cutting in his fried egg with the side of his fork. Just as he was about to take the first bite, the phone vibrated in his hand and he was confused as to why Suga was sending another message.

 

Suga: _Don't think I am being weird or anything… but you look nice in that cooking apron._

 

He suddenly became embarrassed that he had put on an apron to cook only two eggs, and equally ecstatic that Suga complimented his appearance. Daichi hurriedly responded back, wide thumbs consistently hitting the wrong letters and causing him to keep fixing errors and consequently wasting time.

 

Daichi: _Haha, thanks! The shirt and tie make it look more sophisticated. I bet you you would look great in an apron too. Better than me._

 

' _You would look good in almost everything,'_ Daichi thought to himself as he ate his first bite, reaching for the salt shaker amidst his collection of spices. ' _And you would look good without anything on too.'_ He frowned slightly at the tingle of electricity that occurred when not-so-pure thoughts of Suga flashed through his mind, including Suga wearing an apron and nothing else greeting him after a long day's work.

 

Suga: _We should make dinner sometime. But seriously, get some sleep!_

 

"I am for sure falling for him," he said wistfully, finishing off a now lightly seasoned fried egg. His phone vibrated yet again and he felt his heart jump at the anticipation of another message from Suga, but he saw that it was a call from Michimiya and then he remembered he had not answered any of her messages.

"Sawamura!" she hollered at him as soon as he picked it up, causing him to almost drop it out of shock. He should have remembered that Michimiya had been worrying about him and that it would have been better to hold the phone at arm's length for her enraged reprimand.

"Michimiya!" he hissed back, hoping that she didn't wake her neighbors with her outburst.

"Did you have any idea how concerned I was about you?"

"I saw your messages."

"Answer them next time! You could have gotten in a car accident or ended up staying overnight at the school or something…"

"Okay, okay, I forgot!" he said, setting his fork down and leaning against the counter. "I'm sorry."

She accepted his apology and then apologized herself for yelling at him. He let her talk on for a few minutes as he took off his apron and rinsed off his plate, agreeing and chuckling when appropriate. It was a reprieve that was very much needed, but even as he listened to her day, he felt the emptiness of the room start to bother him again. The air felt thin and cold, and the padding of his feet on the hardwood floor sounded oddly desolate as he made his way to the bedroom.

He flicked the light on, revealing a full-sized bed with half of the navy blue covers on the floor. Daichi frowned, annoyed that he did not take the time in the morning to make his bed like he usually did.

"Daichi? You there?"

"Yeah, I am," he replied, shifting the phone to his shoulder so that he could start unbuttoning his shirt. Daichi tried to make haste with changing - the sooner he got to bed, the more sleep he hopefully would get. When his pants were removed from his body, they joined his dress shirt and undershirt in the overfilled hamper.

' _I feel like a disaster,'_ he said, shuffling over to his bathroom with a yawn, still letting Michimiya do most of the talking. She always had interesting stories to tell about the day and he loved her enthusiasm as she told them, and she really appreciated that he was a good listener.

"Hold on a second. I need to rinse off my face and use the bathroom," he said when she finished telling him about a new book that was quite popular with the girls that she was planning to read. "I'll be back in a few."

"Sure thing. I need to brush my teeth too."

Splashing cool water on his face was usually relieving, but it did not help this time at all. His heart still felt heavy and burdened with stress and his mind felt like it was immersed in a thick fog. When he went to reach for his toothbrush, he recalled Suga's text telling him to brush his teeth before sleeping, and the void in his heart grew yet again. He abruptly threw his toothbrush into the sink, plastic clattering against the ceramic bowl as he shut off the water. Daichi left it there - too distracted to want to linger any longer in the bathroom.

"I'm back," he said, picking up the phone and pressing it against his left ear. He heard a muffled response that was cutely comical, causing him to chuckle in response as Michimiya finished up brushing.

"Haha, sorry about that."

"It's fine. Just reminded me of how you sounded when I covered your mouth at karaoke quite some time ago."

"You were so worried about your secret crush finding out," she said giggling. "Or anybody for that matter. What was that guy's name again? Oikawa-san? He probably wouldn't lay off of teasing you if he knew. But seriously, why haven't you asked Sugawara-san out yet?"

"Suga needs to be able to focus on his first year. To throw a relationship on top of it… it's too soon, and I wouldn't be able to provide him with what he needs with my schedule anyways."

"So that's why you've been down tonight," she observed as he switched on the lamp on the beside table and made his way towards the door to turn off the room lights. "Sawamura…"

"It's okay. Really. Just for some reason, I feel very lonely tonight."

"It's exhaustion getting to you," she said gently, like a mother reassuring her son that everything was going to be fine. "Take it one day at a time."

"I'm trying," he said, turning off the ceiling lights and idly noting the warmer glow of the lamp that normally created a relaxing atmosphere. "It's all my fault really - I'm the one that is choosing to do this to myself."

"Sugawara-san is a fantastic person. He would be more than accommodating with your schedule. I wouldn't wait for someone to steal his attention and affections."

"I know, I know," he sighed, pulling the covers back on his bed and climbing in. Daichi adjusted himself so that he was laying on his side with the phone sandwiched between his ear and his pillow before resuming his conversation. "I'm an idiot, but I really don't think it's the right time yet. I want to spend more time with him first - just us, you know?"

"Uh-huh. It's been a lot of group gatherings so far right?" she asked and Daichi could hear the phone getting jostled around, causing him to presume that she had shifted in her bed. "Lots of volleyball and karaoke and staff drink nights?"

"And only a few cafe dates. I don't think I've seen him all week at the school even."

"That makes sense you'd want more one-on-one time," she said, failing to stifle a loud yawn. "I should go to bed. Sleep well, okay? You're doing to need it, coach!"

"I'll do my best. Sorry to have worried you."

"You owe me once again. Good night, Sawamura."

"Haha yeah. I'll get you back soon. Good night."

He hung up the phone and placed it on the beside table next to his alarm clock and reading book before switching off the lamp. The room was instantly submerged in darkness save for the faint light filtering in through the blinds of his window. Daichi didn't mind that it wasn't completely pitch black because he always had a nightlight as a child and having a little bit of light was comforting even though he was an adult now.

However, this particular night, he felt uneasy restless and preoccupied, and the darkness was ominous and unwelcoming. Daichi pulled the covers up to his armpits and turned over onto his side, shivering despite how warm the night air coming in through the open window was. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to force his mind to slow down enough to get a few precious hours of sleep, but to no avail. It was infuriating because he rarely had problems falling asleep or sleeping heavily through the whole night.

"Come on, Daichi. Get it together," he groaned, flipping onto his other side and adjusting his pillow so that his head was supported well. It was a mistake to have changed positions - he was now able to see the rest of the full-size bed and realize just how much space there was without another body in it.

His heart sank with heavy sorrow and Daichi couldn't hold back how much he yearned for Suga to be beside him, to see his eyes aglow with happiness and moonlight, and to be able to love him without restraint or hesitation. Tears started to form and Daichi wiped them away in annoyance of the situation he was in. He wanted to laugh at his miserable state and at how he seemed to be unraveling, crumbling, and falling apart all at the same time while feeling like he was slowly suffocating under water.

' _I just need to completely exhaust myself,'_ he thought to himself as he closed his eyes again, fresh tears sliding down his face onto his pillow. ' _Or jerk myself off. It might feel good despite how crappy I feel.'_

After debating with himself for a minute about whether it was a smart idea or not, he ended up deciding that it wouldn't hurt to try. He allowed his hand to follow a familiar trail down his firm stomach, along the defined line of his hipbone, and then underneath the waistband of his boxer briefs. Curling his fingers around his length, he conjured up a fantasy with Suga surprisingly as easily as he could when he was happy.

However, getting himself in the mood this time was a slow process - only a few trickles of desire at a time were making its way down as he stroked himself, yet he found that it was suiting for someone caught in limbo and needed the time to figure his way out. To reach a tumultuous climax quickly meant there was a chance of keeping himself awake longer with all of the adrenaline and heightened sensations, and he desperately needed the sleep.

He didn't know when he finally drifted off, but somehow with the haze of pleasuring himself, softly whispering Suga's name over and over as he moved his hand more vigorously, occasionally pressing his finger into his slit softly, exhaustion finally grabbed hold and the last of his tears dissipated.


End file.
